Matthew 13:37-39

Jesus identified Himself as both the sower and the director of the harvest. He took these Old Testament figures for God and applied them to Himself. [Note: See Philip B. Payne, "Jesus’ Implicit Claim to Deity in His Parables," Trinity Journal 2NS:1 (Spring 1981):3-23.] The field is the world where the sowing takes place, but the wheat and the tares represent true and only professing believers.

"This brief statement presupposes a mission beyond Israel (cf. Matthew 10:16-18; Matthew 28:18-20) and confirms that the narrower command of Matthew 10:5-6 is related exclusively to the mission of the Twelve during the period of Jesus’ earthly ministry." [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 325.]

Notice particularly that the field is not the church. The identification of the field as the church was common in the writings of some early church fathers and in those of some Reformers, and it is quite popular with many modern critical, evangelical, and even dispensational scholars. I think it is incorrect since the kingdom predicted in the Old Testament is distinctly different from the church. This parable does not teach that there will be a mixture of good and evil in the church, true believers and only professing believers. The terms "world," "church," and "kingdom" are all distinct in the New Testament.

The good seed represents the sons of the kingdom, namely, those destined for the kingdom, not those presently in the kingdom. The messianic kingdom has not yet begun. Compare Matthew 8:12, where the sons of the kingdom are Jewish unbelievers, namely, Jews who should have been destined for the kingdom but were unbelievers in Jesus. The weeds are sons of the evil one, namely, Satan (cf. John 8:44; 1 John 5:19).

"Not all unbelievers are called children of the devil; only those who have willfully rejected the light are so designated (cp. Matthew 13:38; John 8:38-44)." [Note: The New Scofield . . ., p. 1015.]

The devil is the enemy, the harvest is the end of the age (Matthew 9:37; cf. Jeremiah 51:33; Hosea 6:11; Joel 3:13), and the harvesters are angels (Matthew 24:30-31; Matthew 25:31; cf. Matthew 18:10; Luke 15:7; Hebrews 1:14; 1 Peter 1:12). Obviously several elements in this parable have significance. However note that many others do not (e.g., the conversation between the man and his servants, the servants’ sleep, the order of the sowing, etc.).

"This condition of the kingdom was never revealed in the Old Testament, which spoke of a kingdom of righteousness in which evil would be overcome." [Note: Barbieri, p. 50.]

The end of the age refers to the present age that will culminate in Jesus’ second coming and a judgment of living unbelievers (cf. Matthew 13:40; Matthew 13:49; Matthew 24:3).