Matthew 13:29

But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) But he said, Nay.—Prior to the interpretation the householder of the parable is clearly intended to be a pattern of patient wisdom. He knows that he can defeat the malice of his foe, but he will choose his own time and plan. While both wheat and tares were green, men might mistake between the two; or, in the act of rooting up the one, tear up the other. When harvest came, and the stalks were dry, and the difference of aspect greater, it would be comparatively easy to gather the tares and leave the wheat.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:24-30, 36-43 This parable represents the present and future state of the gospel church; Christ's care of it, the devil's enmity against it, the mixture there is in it of good and bad in this world, and the separation between them in the other world. So prone is fallen man to sin, that if the enemy sow the tares, he may go his way, they will spring up, and do hurt; whereas, when good seed is sown, it must be tended, watered, and fenced. The servants complained to their master; Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? No doubt he did; whatever is amiss in the church, we are sure it is not from Christ. Though gross transgressors, and such as openly oppose the gospel, ought to be separated from the society of the faithful, yet no human skill can make an exact separation. Those who oppose must not be cut off, but instructed, and that with meekness. And though good and bad are together in this world, yet at the great day they shall be parted; then the righteous and the wicked shall be plainly known; here sometimes it is hard to distinguish between them. Let us, knowing the terrors of the Lord, not do iniquity. At death, believers shall shine forth to themselves; at the great day they shall shine forth before all the world. They shall shine by reflection, with light borrowed from the Fountain of light. Their sanctification will be made perfect, and their justification published. May we be found of that happy number.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ye root up also the wheat - They so much resembled the true wheat that even then it would be difficult to separate them.

By gathering them, they would tread down the wheat, loosen and disturb the earth, and greatly injure the crop. In the harvest it could be done without injury.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

29. But he said, Nay—"It will be done in due time, but not now, nor is it your business."

lest, while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them—Nothing could more clearly or forcibly teach the difficulty of distinguishing the two classes, and the high probability that in the attempt to do so these will be confounded.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Matthew 13:33".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

But he said, nay,.... The answer is in the negative; and which, if spoken to angels, is to be understood, that they should not inflict punishments, or pour out, their vials, as yet, on formal professors, lest the righteous should share in them; and if to magistrates, the sense of it is, that they should not persecute with the sword, or put men to death for heretical opinions; but if to ministers of the word, which sense I choose, the meaning is, that not everyone suspected to be a tare, or a nominal professor, is to be removed from the communion of the church, because there is often danger in so doing:

lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them: not that men of openly scandalous lives are to be tolerated in churches; they are to be withdrawn from, and put away; nor men of known, avowed, heretical principles; such, after the first and second admonition, are to be rejected: yet there may be such in churches, not altogether agreeable in principle and practice, whose character and situation may be such, that there is no removing them without offending some truly gracious, useful persons, in whose affections they stand, who may be tempted, by such a step, to leave their communion; and so cannot be done without a considerable prejudice to the church. The scope of the parable, and the design of our Lord in it, are chiefly to be attended to; which are to show, that a pure and perfect church cannot be expected in the present state of things; and that saints should not be immoderately uneasy, but patiently bear such exercises, until Christ's time is come to relieve them, when the tares and chaff shall be separated from the wheat; when sinners shall not stand in the congregation of the righteous, and there shall be no more a pricking briar, nor a grieving thorn in the house of Israel.

Geneva Study Bible

But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Matthew 13:29. οὔ, emphatic; laconic “no,” for good reason.—μήποτε: the risk is that wheat and “tares” may be uprooted together.—ἅμα, with dative (αὐτοῖς) but not a preposition, the full phrase is ἅμα σὺν: “at the same time with,” as in 1 Thessalonians 4:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:10. On this word vide Bos, Ellip. Graee., p. 463, and Klotz, Devar., ii. 97. The roots being intertwined, and having a firm hold of the soil, both wheat and tares might be pulled up together.

Bengel's Gnomen

Matthew 13:29. Οὔ, no) The zeal of the godly against the zizans is not blamed, but yet it is reduced to order.—ἅμα) at the same time.—τὸν σῖτον, the wheat) which you might mistake for zizans.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Wetstein, on ver. 39, quotes an interesting parallel spoken by R. Joshua ben Korcha (Talm. Bah., 'Baba Metzia,' 83b). Matthew 13:29