Matthew 13:24-41 Another parable put he forth to them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man which sowed good seed in his field:… This parable does not forbid Church discipline: 1. Because Church discipline is enjoined by many plain passages of the New Testament, and that no interpretation of any parable may be put against that. 2. Discipline rightly understood is for the saving of a man to the Church, and not for the casting of him out of it. 3. What the parable here recommends is not so much the following of a certain course as the cultivation of a certain spirit. I. Do AS WE WILL, WE SHALL NEVER GET EVIL ENTIRELY OUT OF THE CHURCH — the ideal Church is in heaven (Revelation 21:2). This truth has a two-fold lesson. 1. It is well fitted to comfort those who are labouring in the ministry of the gospel, and to all who are tenderly solicitous for the honour of the Church. 2. It is calculated to correct the error of those who decline to enter into the membership of the Church because it is not absolutely pure. II. The great lesson taught us is that THE RASH ATTEMPT TO SEPARATE THE GOOD FROM THE BAD IN THE CHURCH MAY RESULT IN A STATE OF THINGS THAT IS WORSE THAN THAT WHICH IS SOUGHT TO BE AMENDED. III. AT THE LAST JUDGMENT THERE WILL BE AN ABSOLUTE SEPARATION BETWEEN THE GOOD AND THE BAD. (W. M. Taylor. D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: |
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