Matthew 21:31, commentary and pictures

The first son did his father's will because though he refused at first he afterward repented and went to work, while the second son only said he would go and did not, so obedience is proved by doing and not by promising in words. The first son stands for publicans, harlots and open transgressors who made no profession of piety, and the second for priests, rulers, scribes and Pharisees who professed obedience yet refused God's work and set aside His commands. When the leaders themselves answered that the first did his father's will, they condemned themselves without knowing it, and Jesus declared that the repentant publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before them. Open sinners who repent, believe, forsake sin and bring forth works answering to repentance stand in a more favorable position before God than haughty professors who bear no fruit, for religious privilege, wealth and outward advantage cannot secure salvation. The same warning rests on professing Christians and church members today whose profession does not sanctify the life, for profession without doing leaves the work undone and faces separation from God, though the door is still open to all who will be convicted and converted.

Parable Story and Setting

The son who at first refused but afterward repented and went to work did his father's will, while the son who promised to go but did not go was disobedient, for doing the will is proved by obedient action and not by agreeing in words. To act on the call to go work today in the vineyard is to do the Father's will, and the son who agreed but left the work undone left obedience unperformed. The repentant publicans and harlots who first rejected the call but later believed, were convicted, turned from sin and obeyed enter the kingdom of God before the professing leaders who saw and heard yet did not repent and believe. Failing to respond to received light leaves a person in darkness, and even the most thoughtless and abandoned stand in a more favorable position than the haughty and self-righteous when they repent and believe.

The first son represents the publicans, harlots and open transgressors who made no profession of piety but lived in sin, in gross immorality as transgressors of the law, unthankful and unholy, despised and hated and denounced as infidels. The second son represents the priests, rulers, scribes, Pharisees and leading men of the nation who professed obedience and faithfulness while acting disobedience, refusing God's work and setting aside His commands. Their profession of obedience was false, like saying I go, sir, and going not, and their pride in holiness could not make up for disobedience, so that the nation faced separation from God because of transgression. When John called them to repent because the kingdom of heaven was near, the open sinners repented, confessed their sins, believed and obeyed, while the leaders treated his message with disdain, refused to acknowledge he came from God, rejected the counsel of God against themselves in not being baptized, and showed no amendment from his warnings and denunciations, though a few Pharisees did repent and were baptized.

When asked which of the two did his father's will, the scribes, Pharisees, priests and rulers themselves answered, The first, without realizing they were pronouncing sentence against themselves and becoming entangled. Jesus drew that correct judgment from them after they professed ignorance about the character of John's baptism, allowing them to become entangled in the net they had spread for Him. Their own answer that the son who changed his mind and worked did his father's will pronounced judgment on them, for their knowledge and outward piety could not replace obedience.

His purpose in speaking was not to humiliate them nor to show gladness at their hard place, but to teach an important lesson, to set their true position before them, and to add another warning to the many already given. As was His custom He let the circumstance furnish the opportunity, laying bare hypocrisy as God viewed religious pretension and stripping away the robe of apparent righteousness because works did not correspond to profession though great light had been given. Appearances are deceiving, and Christ judges not from appearances but from the fruit borne, so the publicans who received John's message of repentance and baptism go into the kingdom before the leaders.

The vineyard represents the world, and God looks for fruit from His vineyard produced through the work of His laborers, with everyone who believes having work to do and none to be idle. The parable of the two sons teaches the Jewish teachers the importance of obeying God's will, and its instruction applies to all who have received the light of truth and bear responsibility in God's work, including those entrusted with establishing the work in foreign fields who should receive special, ample advantages and not be hindered. The nation's second-son pattern ran from pledging obedience when the law was proclaimed on Mount Sinai by the voice of God yet not obeying, to rejecting Christ in person when He came to set the principles of the law before them. Though He gave abundant evidence of His authority and divine power and they were convinced, they would not accept the evidence because they lacked the spirit that leads to obedience, making the commandment of God of none effect by tradition and worshiping in vain while teaching the commandments of men as doctrines, until the religious life of the nation had become a pretense of impenitent self-sufficiency. The call to study these parables that represent the world as a vineyard requires training in practical life, cultivation of the soil and various lines of manual labor to fit workers for mission fields, and faithful cultivation of school land with disinterested care of school buildings puts the parable into practice.

John's Message and Responses

John came in the way of righteousness preaching truth, calling sinners to turn from sin and obey, proclaiming repentance and baptism because the kingdom of heaven was near. His invitation to turn from sin and obey is the setting in which those who first refused but later repented and obeyed are shown to have done their father's will.

The publicans and harlots had first refused God's call and lived in open, gross immorality as thoughtless and abandoned transgressors. When John's preaching sent conviction to their hearts and showed them the sinfulness of sin, they loathed themselves, saw their error, were convicted and converted. They believed John, repented, confessed their sins, received his baptism and obeyed God's call, and by that faith and works they did the Father's will. Their repentance and acceptance showed they were doing the Father's will, and works matching repentance and faith matter more than a profession of piety.

The leaders knew the way of truth and saw the sinners' conversion, yet believed him not. They treated John's message with disdain, refused to acknowledge he came from God, rejected the counsel of God against themselves in not being baptized by him, and his warnings and denunciations brought no amendment. Even when they saw that publicans and harlots believed him, they repented not afterward that they might believe him. Though some Pharisees repented and were baptized, the body of priests, rulers and leading men refused.

They were kept back by spiritual pride, self-righteousness, stubborn hearts, self-sufficiency and resistance to the Spirit's conviction. They knew the way of truth but refused to walk in it and refused obedience to God's commandments, and their own hearts blocked their entrance. Though convinced, they would not accept the evidence because they lacked the spirit that leads to obedience, imbued with self-sufficiency so that they could not see their faults, did not think they needed a Saviour, and did not realize they cherished sins that needed to be repented of, forsaken and forgiven. Pride of opinion and self-conceit is the most hopeless and incurable sin, standing in the way of all advancement and growth, because one who thinks his ways are perfect cannot be cleansed from sin.

Entering the Kingdom First

The first son did his father's will because after refusing he repented and went to work, and the publicans and harlots who first rejected John's teaching but afterward believed and were converted enter God's kingdom before the priests and rulers who professed obedience and virtue yet rejected John's message and did not repent even when they saw others believe. Even the most thoughtless and abandoned stand in a more favorable position before God than the haughty and self-righteous when they repent and believe, so that open sinners have more hope than hypocritical professors who bear no fruit to God's glory. Their belief and the reforms that followed showed the transforming power of truth, while those who boasted of piety but resisted Christ's invitations and refused to hear and believe Him will be cast out. The leaders' profession was not genuine, for in rejecting John they did not accept Jesus as Messiah.

What matters is not claiming obedience but doing the Father's will, so a sinner who repents and works righteousness has better prospects than a self-righteous person who promises obedience but does not act. Open sin is not commendable and initial refusal earns no commendation, for frankness is no virtue when it is defiant and not being a hypocrite does not make a person less sinful. When the call to obey comes it is unsafe to delay because the invitation may not come again. The sinner who sees himself with no cloak for his sin, corrupting soul, body and spirit before God, becomes alarmed lest he be eternally separated from heaven, realizes his diseased condition, recognizes and forsakes sin, turns to Christ and seeks healing from the great Physician who will in no wise cast out him that comes, and then can be used as a worker in His vineyard, bringing forgiveness and healing. By contrast self-righteousness is not true righteousness but a fatal deception, and many who claim to obey God's commandments have not the love of God flowing forth to others but content themselves with saying I go, sir, and do not go, refusing to cooperate with those doing God's service, remaining idlers making false promises, professing in word to be sons of God while in life and character denying the relationship, not surrendering the will and living a lie.

This is Christ's sentence upon the Pharisees because they disdained the pearl of great price and the true riches He offered them. Though honored with every temporal and spiritual advantage they boastfully claimed to be rich and in need of nothing, yet were wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. No amount of worldly wealth, high education, temporal or spiritual advantage, religious privilege or outward advantage can secure salvation or bring anyone nearer to God. Salvation is received through willing obedience in giving oneself to Christ as His purchased possession and accepting His offer, which the Pharisees refused while publicans and harlots went in before them.

Failing to respond to received light leaves a person in darkness, so those given great light are not accepted on the strength of privilege when actions contradict profession. Poor outcasts, even publicans and sinners rescued from the lowest depths, who grasp the hope set before them in the gospel will go into the kingdom of heaven before those who have had great opportunities and great light but have walked in darkness. Those with light and knowledge of the truth, even those in the ministry, lose the kingdom because they will not be overcomers, have not moral courage to war against appetite and passion, do not restrict appetite, do not deny themselves for Christ's sake, and will not use what they have received. In the last great day those privileged ones left outside will say Lord, Lord, open unto us, but the door will be shut and their knocking will be in vain. Therefore those with light are not to pass judgment on those without it.

Christ does not say the leaders cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, but shows the obstacle is of their own creating. Their own hearts, stubborn resistance to the conviction of the Spirit of God, and refusal to walk in the path that leads to the Paradise of God and to obey God's commandments blocked their entrance, though the way remained open to them if they repented and believed. The truth that should have been to them a savor of life unto life became a savor of death unto death. The door is still open, the invitation is still held out, and He longs to see them convicted and converted.

Warning to Professing Believers

The verse warns professing Christians who promise obedience but do not obey God, for the second son's promise without action was disobedience while the first son did his father's will because he repented of refusing and then obeyed. It warns against a profession of service that bears no fruit, like the fruitless fig tree representing people whose names are on the church books but whose lives bring no glory to God. It shows that publicans and harlots enter God's kingdom before people who profess the truth but do not let it sanctify their hearts or advance in the divine life, and those who rely on profession without acting on the truth stand where the Pharisees stood. Doing the Father's will means acting on the call to go work in His vineyard and using abilities in His service, not merely agreeing to obey, for the son who agreed but did not go left the work undone. Profession without doing leaves the work undone and faces separation from God.

The verse applies today to those in the highest positions of trust in the work of God who have had clear gospel light yet will not receive the heaven-sent message. It applies to those who, having taken the place of instructors, are unwilling to humble themselves to occupy the place of learners and remain merely human moralists. The despised outcasts who believe enter before privileged religious leaders who reject clear light, because John came in the way of righteousness and the publicans and harlots believed him while the leaders did not believe and did not repent afterward even when they saw it.

The verse is Christ's rebuke to the Pharisees that repentant sinners and harlots who believe will enter the kingdom of God before self-righteous religious leaders, and it rebukes church members who have no connection with God. It forbids indifference to saving work, standing afar off to criticize and draw away, and ignoring efforts to save those who will believe and unite in reaching that despised class. Even in the church there are those who have no connection with God and will remain until the harvest separation, when the gospel net that draws both good and bad is divided. A self-complacent spirit that leaves sinners in darkness gives evidence of being unconverted, and those who object to associating with sinners have important lessons to learn. Those who have not had great opportunities and privileges will go into heaven before those who have had great light but have not lived up to the light, so those with light are not to pass judgment on those without it.

The first son's initial refusal to obey earned no commendation, even though he answered his father frankly. Frankness is no virtue when it is defiant, and not being a hypocrite does not make a person less sinful. When the call to obey comes, it is unsafe to delay, because the invitation may not come again.

Open unbelievers who do not pretend to obey God are less dangerous than those who regard their own disobedience as obedience. Those who in thought, word, or deed belittle or disparage the gospel ministry because it does not sustain them in erratic movements stand on perilous ground. God will have order in His work, and the ministry remains His means for doing a great work even though some men in the ministry are unfaithful. Those who accuse and disparage the ministry because its work does not appear to them to be the work that should be done are not wise men.

Working and Reaching Outcasts

Doing the Father's will means answering the call to go work today in His vineyard, not merely agreeing to obey but repenting and going to the work as the first son did after his refusal, while the son who promised to go and left the work undone left obedience unfulfilled. Obedience is proved by action and service rather than by words, and is tested by whether a person both goes to the vineyard and works there, faithfully using knowledge, abilities and opportunities in the service God gives. Those who would work for the Master show willingness through practical labor and missionary service, beginning with useful tasks and making the most of opportunities, and such service gives evidence of fitness for greater responsibility. A child who promises a task but neglects it must be held accountable and required to complete it, for saying obedience when sacrifice is required and then refusing it is false profession. The call demands decided action from all who claim to be His people to promulgate truth in many ways, with missionaries more anxious for the salvation of souls than for wages, working as witnesses under the Holy Spirit's guidance stripped of selfishness with earnest, patient, persevering effort that converts souls.

The parable represents the world as a vineyard where God looks for fruit produced through the work of His laborers, and its instruction applies to all who have received the light of truth and bear responsibility in God's work, so that everyone who believes has work to do and must not be idle. Those entrusted with establishing the work in foreign fields should receive special, ample advantages and should not be hindered in their efforts. Training in practical life, cultivation of the soil, and various lines of manual labor fits workers for any line of mission work in the fields to which they are called, so they can instruct as they have been instructed. Faithful cultivation of school land and disinterested care of school buildings puts this parable into practice and causes the love of sports and amusements that perplexes school work to pass away.

However wretched people are they are not too low or too wretched for God's notice and love, and publicans and harlots go into the kingdom before those who spurn them for this reason. Christ longs for careworn, weary and oppressed human beings to come to Him to give them light and joy and peace found nowhere else, and even the very worst sinners are objects of His deep, earnest pity and love. He sends His Holy Spirit to yearn over them with tenderness seeking to draw them to Himself, and anyone willing to receive heaven's truths may be rescued by His grace and begin a new life however deeply sin has degraded them. Christ never spurns true repentance no matter how great the guilt, yet there is more hope for the open sinner than for those who practice iniquity under a cloak of godliness, and the heaviest retribution falls on cloaked hypocrisy which He denounces with burning condemnation.

The gospel invitation and last call must be carried to publicans, harlots, sinners, the heathen near and far, the despised of the nations, and those in the lowest depths of sin and spiritual wickedness without God and without hope in the world, for they must hear the Saviour's invitation and can be uplifted into the kingdom. Churches and ministers must not overlook publicans, sinners, harlots and the heathen as unworthy of effort, but must feel travail of soul to fill the Master's table by going to them and presenting the compelling invitation. Christ calls the outcast by loving-kindness and compels them to come in, while He never countenances those who stand apart in self-esteem and look down upon others. Through the kindness, patience and long-suffering of the messengers bringing it, the invitation becomes a compelling power that lifts and elevates even the most degraded so that they go into the kingdom before the self-righteous and exalted leaders.

Rescue requires going to the very depths of human woe and misery with travail of soul, casting the gospel net to gather both good and bad, and doing loving medical missionary work that feeds, cleanses, clothes and prepares outcasts to know someone cares for their souls, rescuing souls wrenched from Satan's hand. Those of the lowest class who accept grace through human effort united with the divine will be saved, and those who believe will unite in reaching their own class and seeking to restore the moral image of God in others. Indifference to that saving work, standing afar off to criticize and draw away and ignoring efforts to save those who will believe, disobeys the command of Jesus and shows no connection with God, and the fact that the net draws both good and bad gives no reason to ignore the effort. Even if but few accept, the work is not in vain because one soul is very precious in God's eyes and Christ died so that soul might live through eternal ages, God's rich blessing rests on those who do it, and many restored outcasts will stand as the elect of God next to the throne. Poor outcasts rescued from the lowest depths who grasp the hope set before them in the gospel will go into the kingdom before those who had great opportunities and great light but walked in darkness, would not overcome, war against appetite and passion, restrict appetite, or deny self for Christ, and who at last will knock in vain saying Lord, Lord, open unto us when the door is shut.

People regarded as socially or morally superior may enter God's kingdom after those they despise, for sinners who accepted Christ as Redeemer enter while self-righteous scorners share the fate of hypocrites and unbelievers. The warning applies to white people who consider themselves superior to Black people, for many Black people will go into heaven before them. All are saved by the same grace and enter the same heaven, so prejudice must be overcome with love and compassion.