Matthew 13:38, commentary and pictures

The field is the whole world, the good seed are true children of the kingdom born of truth and sown by the Son of man to live Christlike lives, and the tares are children of the wicked one sown never by God but secretly by the devil who mingles error with truth in human hearts. The two grow together in vital conflict until the harvest at the end of the world, with counterfeit professors so closely resembling genuine Christians for a time that only fruit reveals them and only the final separation makes the difference plain. No human is to judge or uproot fellow men, for the work of final separation belongs to Christ and His angels who gather the wheat into God's kingdom and bind the tares for burning in fire while the righteous shine forth in eternal life. Because the field is the world, the whole earth without distinction of nation, class, or place is the scope for gospel labor, means and workers to be spread equally and not confined to one center until all have heard and decided. The presence of tares in church fellowship does not make the commandment-keeping church Babylon nor excuse sin, but calls for humility without condemnation, for character rather than profession decides destiny at Christ's judgment by words and works.

Symbols and Sowers

The field is the world, meaning the whole world as the place where the parable takes place. The good seed and the tares grow together in that worldwide field until the harvest, which is the end of the world. Two opposing forces are at work there, and the present state is that of a militant church rather than a triumphant one, with wheat and tares together in church fellowship gathered out from the world. The kingdom must still be kept free from the sinful practices of the world even while both classes develop side by side.

The good seed are the children of the kingdom, people born of God's word, which is the truth. They are sown by the Son of man and are God's true people, genuine Christians without pretense. Their life represents Christ in Christlike character, in contrast to those who bear His name while denying it.

The tares are the children of the wicked one, people who embody error and false principles in opposition to God's truth. They are sown by the devil, and neither God nor His angels ever sow what produces tares. Christ sows truth, while Satan secretly sows evil in human hearts and mingles error with the truth, even bringing false professors into the church whose presence dishonors God, misrepresents salvation, and puts souls in danger. His work includes suppressing the Bible and the light of the gospel, making faithful sowing of sound doctrine necessary.

Though called the world, the field also signifies Christ's church in the world. The parable describes God's work of saving people through the church, where by the moving of the Holy Spirit upon hearts everywhere people grow and ripen for God's harvest.

The verse thus reveals divine and satanic agencies engaged in decided opposition and vital conflict before all the world. That controversy between Christ and Satan has continued since the fall, with wheat and tares representing opposing divine and satanic work until the close of earth's history. After disobedience entered, humanity must struggle against the evil that entered the world, and departure from Christ's principles explains the continuing warfare and the delay in proclaiming the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. The living Word produces sanctification in those who receive it, while Satan imitates the wheat to deceive those connected with the Word, and God now tests and proves His people, shaking everything that can be shaken so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

Growing Together Until Harvest

The good and the evil grow together in the world until the harvest, which is the end of the world. The field is the world, the good seed sown by the Son of man are the children of the kingdom, and the tares sown by the devil are the children of the wicked one. The righteous and the wicked live together in the world until then, when their difference becomes clear and the wicked are separated from the righteous for destruction rather than changed into righteous people, while the righteous receive eternal life. At that time the Son of man sends His angels as reapers to gather out of His kingdom all things that offend and those who do iniquity and cast them into a furnace of fire with wailing and gnashing of teeth, while the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Because evil thus continues alongside good to the very end, there will be no thousand years of righteousness and peace and conversion of the world before the personal coming of the Lord, and the kingdom of darkness continues until the advent.

The present church is the militant church, not the triumphant church, made up of wheat and tares growing together in church fellowship. The gospel gathers together in fellowship those who come out from the world, yet counterfeit Christians and false professors who claim piety mingle with true followers in every church, so being in the church does not prove a person is a Christian and not all who claim to be sons and daughters of God truly are. The kingdom of God must be kept free from the sinful practices of the world even while inside the only church that keeps the commandments of God the children of the kingdom and the children of the wicked one grow together until the harvest.

The tares can so closely resemble the wheat for a time that people cannot reliably distinguish them and can be deceived, but the resemblance is temporary. Sinners falsely professing piety may listen and mingle outwardly like genuine believers, holding truth in unrighteousness and appearing like the wise, so that no human can read the heart or say with authority who is wise and who is foolish. Their character is shown by their fruits, and the difference between good and evil becomes plain at the harvest of the world, when the wicked are gathered away from the righteous and destroyed while the righteous receive eternal life.

The wheat and tares must be allowed to grow together until the harvest, and no human has the right to measure the characters of fellow men or to root out the tares. The work of judgment and final separation has not been put in human hands but belongs not to men now but to Christ, who alone understands human weakness and striving to reach Christian perfection after living in humanity, and to His angels at the harvest. Christ will decide who is worthy of heaven, judging people by their words and works so that character, not religious profession, determines destiny. God's angels know how to gather the wheat from among the tares without mistake and are commissioned to counterwork those who fight against the truth, binding the tares into bundles to burn and gathering the wheat into the garner.

The presence of tares, pride, self-sufficiency, stubborn unbelief, refusal to yield even when evidence is piled upon evidence, and flawed members does not make the commandment-keeping church Babylon and does not blot out its existence. The Lord loves His church, it is not to be disorganized or broken up into independent atoms or separate groups, and no messenger sent by the Lord calls it Babylon. Those who heed a false message of separation and leaven others will be deceived and come to nothing.

The tares are not beyond hope, for many will be converted.

Final Harvest Judgment

At the harvest, which is the end of the world, the Son of man sends His angels as reapers to gather out of His kingdom all things that offend and those who do iniquity. The wheat is selected from the tares, sealed, and gathered into the heavenly garner and storehouse and into God's kingdom, while the tares are bound into bundles to burn. That work of separation belongs not to men now but to angels at the harvest.

The righteous and the wicked live together in the world until the harvest, when their difference becomes plain and the wicked are separated from the righteous. The wicked are not changed into righteous people and the tares do not all become wheat, but are separated for destruction while the righteous receive eternal life. They are cast into a furnace of fire with wailing and gnashing of teeth, while the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The tares include false and hypocritical professors whose outward likeness to Christ's followers can deceive people for a time, yet their resemblance to the good is temporary.

Evil therefore continues alongside good to the very end, and the kingdom of darkness continues until the advent. There will be no thousand years of righteousness and peace and conversion of the world before the personal coming of the Lord. The world will not be wholly converted and the church will not achieve complete triumph before Christ's coming.

Christ will decide who is worthy of heaven, judging people by their words and works. Character, not religious profession, determines destiny, and at the great day every person will be judged according to deeds done in this life. No human can read the heart and no human has authority to say who is wise and who is foolish, for those who hold the truth in unrighteousness can appear outwardly like the wise because the tares so closely resemble the wheat. The angels of God know them, for their fruits declare their character, and the angels are commissioned to counterwork those who fight against the truth of God's word and will gather the wheat from among the tares without mistake.

The verse is life-or-death instruction to be read and taken to heart, contemplating the future destiny of the beings for whom Christ gave His life and pressing the question who will stand before the judgment seat of Christ acquitted, without spot or stain of character. Those who are saved must form characters without fault in the sight of a pure and holy God, each doing the work God has given him while cooperating with Christ, wearing His yoke and learning His meekness and lowliness. Take heed to self and do not be blinded by human sophistry and mocking of sacred things.

Worldwide Gospel Mission

The field is the world, and therefore the whole world is the field for gospel labor, for proclaiming the gospel to gather a harvest for eternal life. The work is not to be confined to one locality or country or to established churches, but is to extend across the world and encircle it before the second appearing of Christ. Fields once difficult to reach can become accessible, and countries formerly closed may open their doors and seek the word of God. Those who know the gospel are to carry the message throughout the world and work for the salvation of people even in their own neighborhoods, trusting that providence and power work with human effort and that results will be fully seen only in eternity. The worldwide field is not limited by caste or nationality but is to reach every part of the earth and every dark place, for God has an interest in every part of it.

Its scope reaches all peoples without boundary of Jew and Gentile, caste, nationality, class, or place. Every needy soul is a neighbor and brother, whether neighbor or stranger, friend or enemy, and Christ tears away walls of partition, territorial lines, and artificial distinctions. People throughout the world may receive the light and through faith lay hold of immortality, and Christ's followers are called to labor everywhere for their deliverance from Satan's temptations and power. Christ's field of labor is the whole world, including Jews and Gentiles and every class, for no narrower sphere fits His mission to seek and save the lost. The soil to be cultivated is in every city and every village, in the highways and byways, in places near and afar off, even to the regions beyond.

Labor and means are to be spread more equally rather than centered in one place. Resources and support should not be concentrated in Battle Creek or one favored center while churches elsewhere struggle, and no one locality is to swallow up every resource to multiply its own facilities while the larger parts of the field are left destitute. Prosperous churches should help poorer churches become established and thrive, money entrusted for the work is to be invested to plant truth where it has not yet taken hold, new territory is to be annexed, and gracious calls of mercy are to be given to all parts of the world including overlooked places rather than adding building to building in one place. To plan largely for one place and center there time, money, educational interests, ministerial institutes and facilities savors of selfishness and is not wise, while dividing and subdividing important interests and locating them in other communities diffuses strength so that as large a number as possible may reap the benefits, since money expended in one place would go far toward successful aggressive work elsewhere. As the work grows in each place workers are to be trained and sent to help elsewhere, with new territories worked by men inspired by the Holy Spirit, new churches established and new congregations organized, and representatives of present truth in every city and in remote parts of the earth. God's work is not divided into separate districts belonging to different workers, so no one may tell a fellow worker not to come onto his part of the field or keep labor within selfish lines, but all are given a wide-reaching influence binding them to God and to the whole human family, to unite with fellow workers and merge interests in forwarding the work in little as well as larger matters.

Those who know the gospel are to work as laborers together with God, cooperating with Christ and angels on earth with earnest, untiring, self-denying effort. This includes going into home and foreign fields and preaching to every creature, supporting the work with willing offerings and faithful tithes, speaking truth without hypocrisy, showing the gospel by gracious words and helpful deeds, and growing in zeal and piety so unbelievers see communion with God and learning from Him. None should be content to save merely his own soul, but all who appreciate the plan of salvation and the infinite price paid for redemption will not live for themselves alone but will feel intense anxiety to save fellow men, moving forward in the pathway of duty with a firm hold on God for strength and grace, spreading the light of truth and advancing moral reform to elevate, ennoble, and bless humanity. With talents committed to each used for God's glory and seed sown in good works for those who have not had the light, those arrayed in Christ's righteousness and sanctified by truth will not be bound by selfishness but will regard all the world as the field and labor for all classes with equal care, letting light shine before men in self-denying ministry. Such labor applies the principles of Christ's sermon on the mount to every move and trusts the consequences with God, discerning duty to God, truly loving Him and keeping His commandments.

When Christians bear fruit to God's glory and sow pure seeds of truth throughout the world, the gospel seed spreads and the final harvest ripens sooner, and at His coming Christ gathers the precious grain. Places now a moral wilderness are to become as the garden of the Lord and the waste places cultivated to bud and blossom as the rose, and the whole earth is to be illuminated with the glory of truth as light shines to all lands and all peoples from those who have received it. The world is the mission field in which truth must be planted, including cities and countries where it has not yet been heard, and sowing and cultivating that ground allows the Lord to bring an increase, with seed-sowing to win people to Christ sometimes followed quickly by conversion. If teachers had cooperated with Christ in spreading pure seeds of truth throughout the world, the world would have been converted. God's people are not to cease labors until the world is encircled with far more extensive missionary effort, for a crisis is right upon them requiring proclamation by the Holy Spirit's power of the great truths for these last days, and it will not be long before everyone will have heard the warning and made a decision, then the end will come, so no one should restrict this work or use it for self-serving ends.

Character and Church Conduct

The tares are false and hypocritical professors who claim piety and mingle with true followers while bearing Christ's name and denying His character. The good seed are those born of God's word, the truth, who embody no pretense, while the tares embody error and false principles and are sown by Satan, never by God or His angels. Satan brings such people into the church, where their presence dishonors God, misrepresents the work of salvation, and puts souls in danger. Their outward likeness to Christ's followers can deceive people for a time, but the resemblance is temporary and the difference becomes plain at the harvest, when good and evil are plainly distinguished. They are not changed into wheat at the end but are separated from the righteous and destroyed while the righteous receive eternal life, for Christ will decide who is worthy of heaven by judging people according to words and works, so that character and not religious profession determines destiny.

Such self-righteous formalists accept truth without repentance or a changed heart and may remain hidden among believers while disguising their true character. They are controlled by pride, self-sufficiency, envy, jealousy, love of praise and popularity, pettiness, evil suspicions, disobedience, and unrighteous works, and they transgress God's laws and bring disorder. Because they are disguised they serve Satan more effectively than openly wicked people, listening to his counsels while claiming to follow Christ, practicing guile and falsehood, shaming Christ publicly by dishonest business dealings, spreading doubt by inventing objections to attack, complaining and sowing evil suspicions among workers. Those who profess to be Christians but do not obey Christ's words do the wicked one's works and are in the bonds of iniquity, and must repent, confess their sins, and be converted. Their presence gives no excuse for sin in others nor ground for blaming Christ and His ministers.

The parable teaches humility and distrust of self rather than judgment and condemnation of others, for being in the church does not prove a person is a Christian since outward profession can resemble genuine faith for a time. The present church is militant and not yet triumphant, made up of wheat and tares growing together with counterfeit Christians in every church, and no one has the right to measure the characters of fellow men or to root them out because judgment belongs to Christ alone who lived in humanity and alone understands human weakness and striving toward Christian perfection. Looking at defective members and feeding on their real or supposed faults gives a false Christian experience marked by contention and disobedience to truth, and those who make defective members the theme of conversation will themselves be ranked among the tares. Instead all are to feed on Christ the Sin-bearer, who alone takes away sins and who alone is the perfect pattern of Christianity.

The sowing also applies to the mind as a field and to children's hearts, where clean and good seed should be planted early through faithful instruction before Satan can plant evil. Christ sows good seed and Bible truth in human hearts, while Satan secretly sows evil there, and unless parents and teachers keep watchful guard the enemy's tares will spring up to bear evil fruit, crowd out and destroy what is good, spread influence to others, and divert from safeguarding truth. The soil of the mind needs unceasing care and cultivation by sowing it with precious seed, guarding children from harmful surroundings and society, since evil learned early can grow faster than good and become difficult to remove. Trashy exciting tales feed evil growth and must be rejected in favor of sensible reading that leads the mind to Bible story, history, and argument and throws light upon the Sacred Volume and quickens desire to study it. Wrong conduct sows tares and corrupts young helpers and nurses through worldly display, while faithful conduct helps sow the good seed of the kingdom and draw people to Christ, which is Satan's work to oppose.

Satan sows evil in the world as he works to suppress the Bible and the light of the gospel, displacing Scripture with human traditions and false religious practices, while the good seed represents God's people and the tares are people who oppose God's truth. Christ sows truth while Satan mingles error with it, producing deceptive teachings and traits of perverted character that take root and threaten to eclipse the truth. Truth must therefore be presented clearly against error, for cherished truth uproots errors that people have accepted as truth. Church leaders and faithful teachers should diligently sow sound doctrine where Satan diligently sows error, and earnest toil can help thwart his plans and build up God's kingdom after disobedience brought the struggle against evil into the world.