Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 8:11
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
11. It has been granted you to grasp these mysteries unveiled; to the rest it has been only given to grasp them under the veil of parables.
that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand ] These words are difficult, and (without dwelling on the fact that the particle loses in later Greek some of its final force) must not be pressed with unreasonable and extravagant literalism to mean that the express object of teaching by parables was to conceal the message of the kingdom from all but the disciples. This would have been to put the kindled lamp under a couch or a bushel. On the contrary they were addressed to the multitudes, and deeply impressed them, as they have impressed the world in all ages, and have had the effect, not of darkening truth but of bringing it into brighter light. The varying phrase of St Matthew, “ because seeing they see not, &c.,” will help us to understand it. Our Lord wished and meant the multitudes to hearken and understand, and this method awoke their interest and deepened their attention; but the resultant profit depended solely on the degree of their faithfulness. The Parables resembled the Pillar of Fire, which was to others a Pillar of Cloud. If they listened with mere intellectual curiosity or hardened prejudice they would only carry away the parable itself, or some complete misapplication of its least essential details; to get at its real meaning required self-examination and earnest thought. Hence parables had a blinding and hardening effect on the false and the proud and the wilful, just as prophecy had in old days (Isa 6:9-10, quoted in this connexion in Mat 13:14, comp. Act 28:26-27; Rom 11:8). But the Prophecy and the Parable did not create the hardness or stolidity, but only educed it when it existed as all misused blessings and privileges do. It was only unwillingness to see which was punished by incapacity of seeing. The natural punishment of spiritual perversity is spiritual blindness.
Nothing can be better than the profound remark of Lord Bacon, that “a Parable has a double use; it tends to vail, and it tends to illustrate a truth; in the latter case it seems designed to teach, in the former to conceal.”
“Though truths in manhood darkly join,
Deep seated in our mystic frame,
We yield all blessing to the name
Of Him who made them current coin.
For Wisdom dealt with mortal powers,
Where truth in closest words shall fail,
When truth embodied in a tale
Shall enter in at lowly doors.”
11. The seed is the word of God ] We have the same metaphor in Col 1:5-6; 1Co 3:6; and a similar one in Jas 1:21, “the engrafted word;” 2Es 9:31; 2Es 9:33 , “Behold, I sow my law in you, and it shall bring fruit in you…yet they that received it perished, because they kept not the thing that was sown in them.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Luk 8:11
The seed is the Word of God
The seed
I.
THE TRUTH TAUGHT, THE SEED SOWN BY JESUS CHRIST, THE GREAT SOWER.
1. The necessity of repentance.
2. The forgiving love and power of God.
3. The necessity of holiness; of obedience, submission, trust, unselfishness, and brotherly love.
4. Christ enjoined fidelity, and warned of judgment to come.
5. Christ taught the necessity of His death for our redemption; proclaimed Himself the one Mediator between God and man; declared our dependence upon Him for all spiritual life and strength; promised His Spirit to lead us into all truth, and His grace to enable us to endure to the end.
II. THE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE ANALOGY BETWEEN THE SEED AND THE TRUTH.
1. Both contain the principle of life.
2. The development of the life in each depends upon conditions. The seed must be sown in congenial soil, and duly watered and nurtured; the truth must be received into an honest and good heart. (A. F. Joscelyne, B. A.)
Missionary sermon
I. WHAT IS THE SEED TO BE SOWN? The Word of God.
II. THE SOIL UPON WHICH THIS SEEN IS TO BE CAST. The field is the world.
III. THE MANNER OR SPIRIT IN WHICH THE SEED IS TO BE SOWN.
1. With much prayer.
2. In simple faith upon Gods promises.
3. In entire dependence upon the influences of the Holy Ghost.
4. In a spirit of love to Christ and the souls of men.
5. Not sparingly, but bountifully. (J. Hatchard, A. M.)
Use the Bible
Never were there so many Bibles in the world. The seed of eternal life is in our days plenteously sown. Why, then, has the crop failed so shamefully? The failure of a crop must be owing to one or more of these four causes. Either
(1) the seed must be bad; or
(2) the season must be bad; or
(3) the land must be bad; or
(4) the tillage must be bad.
Now the failure of a crop of holiness cannot be owing to the first of these causes, for the seed is as good as ever. Nor is the failure owing to any peculiarly bad season. The influence of the Holy Ghost still falls, like mild showers, gently and plentifully on mens hearts, to soften and fit them for receiving the Word of God. The Sun of Righteousness still shines in the heavens, and from His golden throne, when the good wheat has sprung up and come to ear, He pours down warmth enough to ripen it and bring it to perfection. Nor again is the failure of the seed due to the badness of the soil. Bad enough it is, to be sure, naturally; but we know how much the very worst soil may be bettered by care and labour. Mans heart is not worse than it was formerly. The scantiness of the crop, then, is owing to nothing but badness of tillage. (A. W. Hare.)
The seed gives life by means of death
Just so is it with all truth, and superlatively so is it with the Truth. How often does the discoverer reap his first harvest in derision and loss! How often does the pioneer of some beneficent enterprise lay its foundation in his own wealth, health, and peace I How often does the patriot pay the penalty of living a purer and nobler life than his self-seeking contemporaries! Above all, what a countless army of men, valiant for the faith and truth upon the earth, have had to water the seed of Christs gospel by their blood and tears! How often in this and that land, and in none more than in our own, have those gospel institutions, which are Gods Tree of Life for the world, had to grow up like a weeping willow and suck their first nutriment from the graves of their martyr-slain! The blood of Scotlands proto-martyr, the noble Patrick Hamilton, and the memory of his dying prayer, How long, O Lord, shall darkness cover this realm? fomented the young Reformation life over a comparatively silent germinating period of more than twenty years. Knox, and with him Scotland, kindled at the pile of George Wishart. Andrew Melville caught the falling mantle of Knox. And as with the martyrs under Popery in that century, so with those under the black prelacy of the next. When Richard Cameron fell on Airds Moss–as if in answer to his own prayer as the action began, Lord, spare the green and take the ripe!–all the more strenuously strove Cargill, till he, too, in the year following, sealed the truth with his blood. And more followed, and yet more, through that last and worst decade of the pitiless storm known, as by emphasis, the killing time. Through those terrible years Peden dragged out a living death, and, as he thought of Cameron now at rest, often exclaimed, O to be with Richie! Young Renwick, too, caught up the torn flag, nobly saying, They are but standard-bearers that have fallen; the Master lives. Thus one after another, on blood-drenched scaffold or on blood-soaked field, fell the precious seed-grain to rise in harvests manifold, till just at the darkest hour before the dawn, Renwicks martyrdom closed the red roll in 1688, the very year of the Revolution, and the seed so long sown in tears was reaped in joy. Marvel not at this. He who is at once the sower and the seed had Himself to die that we might live. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
Vitality of latent seeds
Much interesting information has been furnished lately upon the vitality of buried seeds. It is astonishing how long many of them retain their germinating powers although lying so deep in the earth as to be beyond the reach of atmospheric influences. This is so–e.g., with the seeds of gorse. A piece of land in Northamptonshire was converted from a furze fox-cover to pasture, a state in which it remained for thirty years or more; it was then deeply cultivated, and the following season a crop of gorse sprung up over the whole field. A gardener, in order to plant some rhododendrons last spring, turned over a quantity of peat soil, the bottom portion being brought to the surface. That bed is now covered with a thick crop of seedling foxgloves, the seed of which must have been lying there in a state of complete dormancy for probably half a century. In the same manner do seeds of truth often lie in the hearts of men. The sower forgets that he has scattered them, or mourns that they have not sprung up. The harvest may come, however, after many years have rolled away, for the seed contains the germ of a God-given life. Those who scatter the Word of God ought never to despair of results. (Christian Journal.)
Sowing the seed of the Word
Billy Dawson, that great natural orator, had a wonderful sermon on the Sower and the Seed. With every stroke of the hand in imitation of the act of sowing, the speaker would drop some blessed passage of Scripture. The Methodist chapel in one of the midland counties not being big enough, the use of the Particular Baptist Chapel was secured. The minister of the chapel was upon the platform. Dawson gave this sowing speech, and went along the platform scattering the seed and giving one passage of Scripture after another: God so loved the world; Come unto Me, all ye that labour; then there came another handful; If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. There, its out, he said, and you can do what you like. When remonstrated with for this breach of ministerial propriety he said, I did not think about the chapel, nor the parson! I thought about the seed. (Handbook to Scripture Doctrines.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Now the parable is this, &c] “Or this is the sense of the parable”, as the Arabic version renders it: “the seed is the word of God”, the Gospel, as preached by Christ, his apostles, and faithful ministers, which has God for its author, is concerning the grace of God, and is what he blesses, and makes effectual to answer any good purpose.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Is this ( ). Means this. Jesus now proceeds to interpret his own parable.
The seed is the word of God ( ). The article with both subject and predicate as here means that they are interchangeable and can be turned round: The word of God is the seed. The phrase “the word of God” does not appear in Matthew and only once in Mark (Mr 7:13) and John (Joh 10:35), but four times in Luke (Luke 5:1; Luke 8:11; Luke 8:21; Luke 11:28) and twelve times in Acts. In Mr 4:14 we have only “the word.” In Mr 3:31 we have “the will of God,” and in Mt 12:46 “the will of my Father” where Lu 8:21 has “the word of God.” This seems to show that Luke has the subjective genitive here and means the word that comes from God.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The parable is this. According to its interpretation.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Now the parable is this,” (estin de aute) “Now then, this is (exists as) the parable,” or the meaning of the parable, explained by Jesus Himself, Mat 13:19; Mat 13:22.
2) “The seed is the word of God.” (ho sporos estin ho logos tou theou) “The seed (of the parable) is (exists as) the word of God,” both the written Word and the Living Word, Jesus Christ, Heb 4:12; 1Pe 1:23; Mar 4:14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(11) The seed is the word of God.This takes the place in St. Lukes interpretation of the word of the kingdom in St. Matthew. The word of God is obviously to be taken in its widest sense, as including every form by which a revelation from God is conveyed to the mind of man.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.’
He explained that the seed represented the Good News of the Kingly Rule of God, the word of God going out to the people from the Scriptures. It was not an idea without precedent as we see in Isa 55:10-11; Isa 61:11. Compare also Amo 9:13 which has in mind abundant harvests. Contrast Jer 12:13.
In the Old Testament ‘the word of God’ was that word which came to the prophet for him to pass on (see 1Ki 12:22; 1Ch 17:3). Compare also ‘the word of the Lord’ which also came to the prophets (over two hundred times).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
6 And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
9 And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?
10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Ver. 11. See Mat 13:18 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Luk 8:11-15 . Interpretation of the parable (Mat 13:18-23 , Mar 4:13-20 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 8:11-15
11″Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. 12Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. 13Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. 14The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.”
Luk 8:11 “the word of God” See note at Luk 5:1.
Luk 8:12 “the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts” The NT teaches the reality of a personal force of evil out to thwart God’s gospel (cf. 2Co 4:4). See SPECIAL TOPIC: SATAN at Luk 4:2.
The NET Bible (footnote #23, p. 1822) makes the interesting observation that each of the Synoptic Gospels uses a different name for God’s opponent.
1. Luke “the devil”
2. Matthew “the evil one”
3. Mark “Satan”
This shows the freedom of the Gospel writers to record true events and teachings in their own words.
“will not believe and be saved” It is so hard to precisely define the procedure and process of salvation (ex. the variety of conversions in Acts). This is because the NT approaches the subject from several different angles:
1. repentance and faith
2. faith and works
3. faith and baptism
4. faith and tongues
However, the consistent requirement is faith. I have come to understand this faith as having three crucial aspects.
1. receiving/welcoming a person (Jesus)
2. believing truths about that person (the NT)
3. living a life emulating that person (Christlikeness).
Some of these are initial; others develop over time. New Testament faith is a dynamic relationship which is difficult to explain. It is more than just faith, but it starts there and finishes there for us. In reality it starts and finishes with God.
“from their heart” This is the OT use of the term “heart” to refer to the person (cf. Luk 8:15). Often today we speak of inviting Jesus into our heart, which is the same metaphorical usage of heart as the will, mind, and emotions of a person. See Special Topic at Luk 1:51.
Luk 8:13 “those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy” This shows that the joyful acceptance of the gospel is not automatically eternal salvation! The word “receive” (cf. Joh 1:12) is synonymous with “believer” (cf. Joh 3:16). Receive/believe is used in Joh 8:31 for Jews who later tried to kill Jesus (cf. Joh 8:59).
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE NEED TO PERSEVERE
Luk 8:14 “are choked with worries and riches and pleasure of this life” Here is another group who, after what seems to be a vital initial response to the Good News, succumbed to the pressures of earthly fallen life (cf. Demas in 2Ti 4:10; God and mammon in Luk 16:13). The theological questions has always been, “Are these people lost, immature or saved and lost”?
See SPECIAL TOPIC: APOSTASY (APHISTMI) at Luk 6:46.
“bring no fruit to maturity” This issue is fruit-bearing, not germination only (cf. Matthew 7).
Luk 8:15 “hold it fast and bear fruit with perseverance” Both of these are present active indicatives. Here is the keythe harvest is the result of a whole life, not one emotional incident of dedication to God (cf. Gal 6:9). There is a good article on “Apostasy” in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, pp. 38-40.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
is = means. Figure of speech Metaphor (App-6): i.e. represents.
word. Greek. logos.
God. App-98.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The seed: Isa 8:20, Mat 13:19, Mar 4:14-20, 1Co 3:6, 1Co 3:7, 1Co 3:9-12, Jam 1:21, 1Pe 1:23-25
Reciprocal: Isa 55:11 – shall my Mar 2:2 – and he Mar 4:26 – as Luk 8:5 – sower Joh 17:17 – Sanctify Rom 10:17 – and hearing 1Th 2:13 – the word of God Heb 4:12 – the word Heb 13:7 – word
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE WORD AS THE SEED
Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
Luk 8:11
All our Lords teaching is most truly practical, and it is only when we begin to try to live according to its spirit that its full meaning becomes clear; and even before putting it into practice, our best chance of understanding it is to compare it, step by step, with what we already know of ourselves and our own hearts and our own lives.
I. Who is this Sower?None of the Evangelists tell us precisely. Christ Himself says that the seed is the Word of God: and the sower is often said to represent those whose duty it is to preachthe ministers of Gods Word. This is, no doubt, a lawful application of the figure, but assuredly it is not its first meaning. We may borrow the explanation from the next parable, The tares. There we are plainly told that He that soweth the seed is the Son of Man. He, without doubt, is the Sower here.
II. But how does He sow His seed?Assuredly not by the lips alone; or how little by comparison would be included in the heavenly sowing. We are influenced by much which is never actually spoken. The ground cannot be the ear. That is a mere passage to our hearts and minds. It is there within that the Divine Sower, sowing good seed, and the enemy, sowing tares, are both at workin the heart. Whatever becomes of the seed, He, the Sower, is always the same, and He has a hand in every part of the process. The heavenly Sowers work is everywhere and at all times. The parable is true of all men. They may try to keep out of reach of any human preachers voice which speaks to them of God and His holy Law; but they cannot move themselves out of reach of the true Sower. Not one, be he ever so ignorant, can plead that he has received no seed from above. God takes care that it is sown, and mans responsibility consists in how he receives it, and how he suffers it to live and grow.
III. He that soweth the seed is the Son of Man.The (Incarnate) Son of God is known to us as the Son of Man. Thus He speaks to us in the still small voice of our own nature. Take heed how ye hear, says Christ. (But the words do not apply to the outward ear alone.) Though no human lips may have spoken Gods message, yet men in one way or another hear the voice of the Son of Man. In the pressure of poverty, or sickness, or sorrow, He is sowing that which, if it falls on a soft and fruitful soil, will help to make our lives rich with heavenly graces; as St. Paul says: Afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised by the present pain. Where we discover in ourselves any struggle against evil, any high desire, accomplished or not, we shall, if we search diligently, find the seeds of His sowing; and out of these, if we do not baffle His purpose, those heavenly plants shall hereafter spring. Thus we see that Gods voice is not heard only through His Book. The word of God is whatever God speaks.
However men may be divided, each of us has all the soils in his heart, and he has the Sower always with him. Gods ministers may preach, His Bible may teach, but it is within that the true Word of words is sounding.
Rev. Dr. Hort.
Illustration
What we are responsible for, all of us who are engaged in Christian work, is that we should make known to men, as far as we ourselves know it, the Word of God. That is the seed of the perfect life. We may interest them in very many ways, but if we do not interest them in God, and in what God has said, our work is a failure. We may impress them in many ways, in many ways create strong emotion among them, but if they are not impressed by God, and by what God has said, our work is a failure. We may excite them greatly. There is a certain dangerous influence in our own earnestness that other men can hardly help feeling, but if the excitement is not produced by what God has said, our work is a failure. The Word of Godthat is the true seed of the diviner life in man.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Here the Saviour applies himself to interpret and explain the foregoing parable to his disciples; he tells them, The seed is the word; the sower is the preacher; the soil or ground, is the heart and soul of man: some hearers he compares to the highway ground, in which the seed lies uncovered for want of the harrow of meditation; others to stony ground, in which the word has no root; no root in their understanding, no root in their memeories, in their wills, or in their affections, but they are instantly offended, either at the depth and profoundness of the word, or at the sancitity and strictness of the word, or else at the plainness and simplicity of it.
Again, some hearers our Lord compares to thorny ground. Worldly desires and inordinate cares for the things of this life choke the word, as thorns overshadow the corn, draw away the heart of the earth from it, hinder the influence of the sun from cherishing it; the like ill effects have worldy affections and desires in the soul of man, rendering the seed of the word unfruitful.
But the good Christian hears the word attentively, keeps it retentively, believes it stedfastly, applies it particularly, practises it universally, and brings forth fruit perseveringly.
Learn hence, 1. That no hearers are in Christ’s account good hearers of the word, but such as bring forth fruit answerable to their hearing.
2. That a person may be a good hearer of the word in Christ’s account, if he brings forth the best fruit he can, though not in so great a proportion as others do; as some ground brings forth thirty, some sixty, some an hundredfold: in like manner do all the sincere hearers of the word; they all bring forth fruit, though not all alike; all in sincerity, though not all equally, and none to perfection.
Learn, 3. That it is not sufficient that we do at present believe, approve and practise the truth delivered to us, or that we are afffected with the word, and receive it with some kind of joy, delight, and pleasure; unless we persist and persevere in obedience to all its precepts, and continue to bring forth fruit with patience.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
3 d. Luk 8:11-15. The Explanation of the Parable.
The expression, Now the parable is this (Luk 8:11), signifies that the essence of the picture is not in its outward form, but in its idea. The point of resemblance between the word and the seed, is the living power contained in a vehicle which conceals it.
By the word Jesus doubtless means primarily His own teaching, but He also comprehends in it any preaching that faithfully represents His own.
Amongst the multitude Jesus discerned four kinds of expression: countenances expressing thoughtlessness and indifference; faces full of enthusiasm and delight; others with a careworn, preoccupied expression; and lastly, expressions of serene joy, indicating a full acceptance of the truth that was being taught.
In the explanation which follows, the word is sometimes identified with the new life which is to spring from it, and the latter with the individuals themselves, in whom it is found. This accounts for the strange expressions: those which are sown by the wayside (Luk 8:12; comp. Luk 8:13-15); these have no root (Luk 8:13); they are choked (Luk 8:14). The first class contains those who are wholly insensible to religion, who are conscious of no need, have no fear of condemnation, no desire of salvation, and consequently no affinity with the gospel of Christ. In their case, therefore, the word becomes a prey to external agents of destruction. Only one is mentioned in the application, the devil (Luke), Satan (Mark), the evil one (Matthew), who employs various means of diverting their minds, in order to make them forget what they have heard. Had not Jesus believed in the existence of Satan, He would never have spoken of him as a reality answering to the figure of the parable. , who hear, must be thus explained: who hear, and nothing more. This implies Matthew’s do not understand.
The second are the superficial but excitable natures, in whom imagination and sensibility for the moment make up for the absence of moral feeling. They are charmed with the novelty of the gospel, and the opposition which it offers to received ideas. In every awakening, such men form a considerable portion of the new converts. But in their case the word soon comes into conflict with an internal hindrance: a heart of stone which the humiliation of repentance and the love of holiness have never broken. Thus it finds itself given over to external agents of destruction, such as temptation (Luke), tribulation and persecution (Matthew and Mark); the enmity of the rulers, the rage of the Pharisees, the danger of excommunication, in a word, the necessity of suffering in order to remain faithful. Those who have merely sought for spiritual enjoyment in the gospel are therefore overcome.
In Luk 8:13 the verb must be understood, and must be made the predicate: are those who, when…The at the end of the verse is a development of , and signifies who, as such.
The third are persons with a measure of earnestness, but their heart is divided; they seek salvation and acknowledge the value of the gospel, but they are bent also upon their earthly welfare, and are not determined to sacrifice everything for the truth. These persons are often found at the present day among those who are regarded as real Christians. Their worldly-mindedness maintains its ground notwithstanding their serious interest in the gospel, and to the end hinders their complete conversion.
The miscarriage of the seed here results from an inward cause, which is both one and threefold: cares (in the case of those who are in poverty), riches (in those who are making their fortune), and the pleasures of life (in those who are already rich). These persons, like Ananias and Sapphira, have overcome the fear of persecution, but, like them, they succumb to the inward obstacle of a divided heart., go forth, describes the bustle of an active life, coming and going in the transaction of business (2Sa 3:1). It is in this verse especially that the seed is identified with the new life in the believer. The form differs completely in the three Syn.
In the fourth their spiritual wants rule their life. Their conscience is not asleep, as in the first; it is that, and not, as in the case of the second, imagination or sensibility, which rules the will; it prevails over the earthly interests which have sway in the third. These are the souls described by Paul in Romans 7 and depend on the two verbs combined, which together denote one and the same act: to hear and to keep, for such persons, are the same thing. The term perseverance refers to the numerous obstacles which the seed has had to overcome in order to its full development; comp. the (Rom 2:7). Jesus was certainly thinking here of the disciples, and of the devoted women who accompanied Him. Luke makes no mention either in the parable or the explanation of the different degrees of fertility indicated by Matthew and Mark, and the latter mention them here also in a contrary order.
We do not think that a single verse of this explanation of the parable is compatible with the hypothesis of the employment of a common text by the evangelists, or of their having copied from each other; at least it must be admitted that they allowed themselves to trifle, in a puerile and profane way, with the words of the Lord. The constant diversity of the three texts is, on the other hand, very naturally explained if their original source was the traditional teaching.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
The meaning of the parable 8:11-15 (Matthew 13:18-23; Mark 4:13-20)
Jesus now gave His disciples information that enabled them to understand the deeper teaching of the parable. The proclaimed Word of God does not in itself yield a uniform response of faith. Human response to it is all-important.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Luke alone wrote, "So that they may not believe and be saved." This inclusion reflects his intense interest in salvation. Luke viewed the preaching mission of Jesus and His disciples as essentially calling people to salvation. Satan’s purpose is the exact opposite of God’s purpose (cf. 2Pe 3:9). In Jesus’ ministry the word of God that saved people was the message that Jesus was the God-man. When people trusted in Him as such, they experienced salvation.