 |  |
(Eph. 3: 1-10), will be to confound things which differ, and signally to fail rightly to
divide the Word of truth.
The parables are particularly dispensational in character. Their object is not to
provide a moral lesson or a text for a gospel address. How many have gone astray by
reason of this mischievous practice. The parable of the Prodigal Son serves those who
have no desire for the retention of the atonement with a "proof" text for the universal
Fatherhood of God, and of the reception by Him of all who come, irrespective of the one
way of acceptance--the sacrifice of Christ. The parable of the Unforgiving Servant is
made to teach, in direct opposition to the doctrine of the epistles, that sins once forgiven
may be re-imputed, or that a sinner once saved by grace can fall away again.
Let us remember the Scriptural settings of these parables, the reasons which drew
them from the Lord Jesus, the dispensation in which they were uttered, and the people
and kingdom about which they speak; we shall then have no need to be ashamed of our
testimony.
Thus far we have sought to clear the way for the study of these parables. We shall
next endeavour to present to the reader the arrangement of the parables of Matthew 13:
and to enter into the teaching of these parables of the secrets of the kingdom of the
heavens.
The Parables of Matthew 13:
pp. 30-34
To understand any passage or verse in the Bible we must take note of the context,
otherwise, being ignorant of much that God has written for our guidance, we shall offer
"a vision out of our own heart" as the interpretation. In the first place, Matt. 13: comes
in that section which is entirely taken up with the "kingdom" before the Lord had uttered
one word of the foundations of the gospel as we know it, namely, His death and
resurrection. This fact should deter us from too hastily assuming that in Matt. 13: we
have an elaborate discourse concerning "the gospel."
In order to show that these parables come (1) in the kingdom section proper, and
(2) before the Lord's revelation of His death and resurrection, we shall have to give the
arrangement of subjects, which is as follows:--
A | Matt. 1: 1 - 3: 12. Preparation.
B | Matt. 3: 16, 17. Voice from heaven--"My beloved Son."
C | Matt. 16: 16. Peter's confession--"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God."
B | Matt. 17: 5. Voice out of the cloud--"My beloved Son."
C | Matt. 27: 54. Centurion's confession--"Truly this was the Son of God.
A | Matt. 28: Conclusion.
The "time" divisions of Matthew are two-fold, agreeing with the two-fold message
from heaven, and confession on earth:--