12<\/strong>. Those by the way side<\/em> ] These are hearers who are hardened<\/em> either beaten (i) flat by lifeless familiarity heartless formalists, Pharisaic theologians, and insincere professors; or (ii) by perversity and indifference, the habit and custom of a worldly and dissolute life. Notice the intensity of thought which identifies the scattered seeds with those in whose hearts they are sown. “The way is the heart beaten and dried by the passage of evil thoughts.” H. de S. Victore.<\/p>\n the devil<\/em> ] The Accuser or Slanderer. St Mark has “the wicked one,” St Matthew “Satan.” taketh away<\/em> ] “Snatches,” Mat 13:19<\/span>. It is done in a moment; by a smile at the end of the sermon; by a silly criticism at the Church door; by foolish gossip on the way home. These are “the fowls of the air” whom the Evil One uses in this task.<\/p>\n lest they should believe<\/em> ] Rather, that they may not believe. <\/strong> “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip,” or rather “ drift away<\/em> from them,” Heb 2:1<\/span>.<\/p>\n Luk 8:12<\/span><\/p>\n Then cometh the devil<\/em><\/p>\n The devils punctuality, power, and purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n First observe the evil ones PUNCTUALITY. NO sooner does the seed fall than the fowls devour it. Our text says then, that is, there and then, cometh the devil. Mark renders it, Satan cometh immediately. Whoever else may loiter, Satan never does. No sooner does a camel fall dead in the wilderness than the vultures appear. Not a bird was visible, nor did it seem possible that there could be one within a radius of many miles, yet speedily there are specks in the sky, and soon the devourers are gorging themselves with flesh: even thus do the spirits of evil scent their prey from afar, end hasten to their destroying work h little delay might put the case beyond Satanic power, hence the prompitude of diabolic activity. <\/p>\n Inattentive hearers<\/strong><\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> A salvation from moral evil. <\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> A salvation from natural evil. Not that good men are exempted from the common afflictions of life. But they are converted into blessings for them, and they are provided with all needful supports under their afflictions. <\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> A deliverance also from penal evil <\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> It is the will of God, that those who are saved should believe. <\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> There is a fitness or suitableness in faith to the end of its appointment, so that the necessity of it arises out of the nature of the thing itself. No sober man who contemplates faith, accompanied with those dispositions and affections necessary to constitute a real Christian, can pronounce it an unreasonable and useless thing. And how is that good to be possessed without a temper of heart suited to the enjoyment of it? And how is this temper to be acquired but by believing? Thus have we considered the nature of faith, described the salvation promised to it, and shown the connection between the one and the other. Let us now return to the argument in the text. Satan clearly perceiving the influence of faith in the great business of salvation, and well knowing, too that faith comes by hearing, uses all his artifices to divert mens attention from the Word, and to prevent its salutary effect upon their hearts. <\/p>\n It now remains that we make two or three reflections on the general subject of this discourse. <\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> If Satan takes the measures you have heard to prevent the success of the gospel, and to confirm men in impenitence and unbelief, how truly is he denominated by our Saviour the wicked one, and how righteous is that sentence which will shortly be executed upon him! <\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> How much is it to be lamented that men will suffer themselves to be deceived and ruined by the devices of this great adversary! <\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> And lastly, Let us admire and adore the grace of God which defeats the designs of Satan, and makes the Word effectual upon the hearts of multitudes, notwithstanding all the opposition it meets with. (S. Stennett, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The fowls of the air<\/strong><\/p>\n Satans power would be far less formidable if it extended to our circumstances only, and did not reach to our mind. We have, however, the express testimony of the Word of God that it does reach thus far; and it is this district of Satanic power which I purpose now to investigate. <\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> With those faculties of mind, if there be any, which are purely intellectual, which do not in any way determine or affect moral character and conduct, it cannot be supposed that the great enemy of mankind busies himself at all. <\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> Perhaps, however, there are fewer powers which are purely intellectual than we are accustomed to imagine. The mind and heart of man are very closely and subtly kneaded up together. Certain it is that there are certain faculties which, more or less, belong to both elements, of which it is hard to say whether they are more intellectual or moral. <\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> One of these is memory. The agency of the fowls in the parable is external; it is not in the soil itself, nor is it connected with the soil; and in like manner, the foe who removes the seed from the heart, that is, from the memory of man, is external. In this parable you have the hosts or tribes of the air doing the work of the prince of the power of the air. <\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> Thus, for all who recognize the words of Christ as being the very truth of God, it seems to be a settled point, resting upon the authority of the Master, that Satan exercises a certain power over the memory. <\/p>\n 5.<\/strong> I turn with a sense of relief from this dark part of the subject to notice the immense power for good which the memory has under a guidance much greater than that of Satan–the guidance of the grace of God. <\/p>\n 6.<\/strong> In conclusion, let the memories of the young be thoroughly charged with the Word of God. (Dean Goulburn.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Transient piety<\/strong><\/p>\n Beloved, <\/em>how many professors fail in this respect. They follow the Lord by fits and starts; they go out from us because they are not of us; for if they had been of us, doubtless they would have continued with us. They leap into religion as the flying-fish leaps into the air; they fall back again into their sins, as the same fish returns to its element. They make a great flame for a time like the crackling of thorns, but lo! the flame has soon expired, for they are not like the miraculous bush which burned, God dwells not in them. (C. H. Spurgeon.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Lack of continuance<\/strong><\/p>\n The great trial of our Christian life is at this point. Will we continue? Thousands of girls begin to practise at the piano; thousands make no small attainment; but only the scores continue, and become eminent. Half a college class, at some time or other, begin to collect a cabinet or herbarium, but only here and there one perseveres. After years have elapsed that one has become, perhaps, possessed of a wonderful treasury, and is, perhaps, also in the way of renown. All, or nearly all, of this is due to his gift of continuance. One day I was looking at a fruit-bearing passion-vine, covering half the side of a friends house, vigorous, graceful. That friend showed me two or three little, tiny, frail-looking specimens of the same in a box. Why, said she, I keep the box full of seeds, but only a few of them germinate. They are so slow in germinating, too. It takes two or three months for one to make its appearance. How many persons there are who would never have any noble passion-vine climbing in beauty about their dwelling, simply because they have no grace of continuing to care for the plant in the slow months of its early life. (A. L. Stone.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 12<\/span>. Those by the way side<\/B><\/I>] Bishop PEARCE thinks that Luke by here means , the seeds<\/I>, though he acknowledges that he has never found such a word as in the plural number signifying seeds<\/I>.<\/P><\/p>\n Those by the wayside are they that hear<\/strong>,…. The word of God, though only by accident, and very carelessly, and without understanding what they hear:<\/p>\n then cometh the devil<\/strong>; signified by the fowls of the air:<\/p>\n and taketh away the word out of their hearts<\/strong>, or memories; that little of it, which is retained there, and diverts their minds from it by other objects; so that they quite forget what they have heard;<\/p>\n lest they should believe, and be saved<\/strong>: this clause is only in Luke; and with it may be compared 2Co 4:4<\/span> for with true faith in Christ the sum and substance of the word salvation is connected; and Satan being an enemy to the salvation of souls, does all he can to hinder their faith in him.<\/p>\n Those by the wayside <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). As in Mark 4:15<\/span>; Matt 13:19<\/span> so here the people who hear the word = the seed are discussed by metonymy.<\/P> The devil <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). The slanderer. Here Mr 4:15<\/span> has Satan.<\/P> From their heart <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). Here Mark has “in them.” It is the devil’s business to snatch up the seed from the heart before it sprouts and takes root. Every preacher knows how successful the devil is with his auditors. Mt 13:19<\/span> has it “sown in the heart.”<\/P> That they may not believe and be saved <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). Peculiar to Luke. Negative purpose with aorist active participle and first aorist (ingressive) passive subjunctive. Many reasons are offered today for the failure of preachers to win souls. Here is the main one, the activity of the devil during and after the preaching of the sermon. No wonder then that the sower must have good seed and sow wisely, for even then he can only win partial success. <\/P> <\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n 1) “Those by the wayside are they that hear;” <\/strong>(hoi de para hodon eisin hoi akousantes) “Then the ones (seed) by the roadside are those who hear the word,” but comprehend or receive it not, Mat 13:19<\/span>.<\/p>\n 2) “Then cometh the devil,” <\/strong>(eita erchetai ho diabolos) “Then comes the devil,” the Devil approaches, of his own accord, will, choice, or purpose. He is also called the Wicked One, Mat 13:19<\/span>. He goeth about, as a roaring lion, 1Pe 5:8<\/span>; Mat 13:19<\/span>.<\/p>\n 3) “And taketh away the word out of their hearts,” <\/strong>(kai airei ton logon apo tes kardias auton) “And he takes up, snatches up, and carries away the Word from their heart,” Mar 4:15<\/span>, that which temporarily touched their hearts, stirred their emotional convictions, as He did both Felix and King Agrippa, who despised the Word.<\/p>\n 4) “Lest they should believe and be saved.” <\/strong>(hina me pisteusantes sothosin) “Lest they may be saved upon believing,” or when they believe; Not when they reform, or are baptized, or become a member of the church<\/em> and be saved, See? Tit 3:5-6<\/span>; Eph 2:8-10<\/span>; Rom 1:16<\/span>; Rom 4:4-5<\/span>; Rom 10:9-13<\/span>; Act 10:43<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n These hear with hardened indifference, or are made to forget by some silly criticism, some foolish gossip, or some worldly passion that seizes them after the message, on the way home. These are the evil “fowls or vultures of the air,” that come to take away the Word from the heart of the hearer.<\/p>\n (12) Then cometh the devil.<\/strong>Note St. Lukes use of this word instead of the Satan of St. Mark and the wicked one of St. Matthew, and his fuller statement of the purpose, lest they should believe and be saved.<\/p>\n ‘And those by the wayside are those who have heard. Then comes the Devil, and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved.’<\/p>\n Those by the wayside were people who were like hard, beaten down ground, resistant and unreceptive to the seed of the word of God. And just as the birds had done, the Devil would swoop down and take the word from their hearts, lest they believe and be saved. He would not risk it lying there where it might be kicked on to good ground. As far as he was concerned God’s seed had a nasty knack of sprouting where it ought not.<\/p>\n Jesus knew well from His earlier experience of temptation (Luk 3:4-12<\/span>) the subtlety with which the Devil could come. And how he would soon plant thoughts which would remove the effect of a casual listening to the word of God.<\/p>\n If Jesus had not believed in a personal Devil there was no need to introduce him here. Some other interpretation would have been equally valid.<\/p>\n 12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Ver. 12. Taketh away the word<\/strong> ] Lest, if it should lie long upon their hard hearts, it should break through them with its weight, as being able to save their souls,Jas 1:21<\/span>Jas 1:21<\/span> . <\/p>\n Luk 8:12<\/span> . : this is not a sufficient definition of the wayside hearers; all the classes described heard. The next clause, beginning with , must be included in the definition = the wayside men are persons in whose case, so soon as they have heard, cometh, etc. : each gospel has a different name for the evil one; , Mt., , Mk. , lest believing they should be saved; peculiar to Lk., and in expression an echo of St. Paul and the apostolic age.<\/p>\n taketh = snatches. <\/p>\n lest = in order that . . . not, as in Luk 8:10. <\/p>\n Luk 8:12. , out of their heart) Implying the great power of the Devil; [who, however, has less power on the second and third classes mentioned in this place than on the first.-V. g.]-, having believed) We are saved by the word through faith: Luk 8:13. Faith is the appropriate fruit of the word.<\/p>\n saved <\/p>\n (See Scofield “Rom 1:16”) <\/p>\n by: Luk 8:5, Pro 1:24-26, Pro 1:29, Mat 13:19, Mar 4:15, Jam 1:23, Jam 1:24 <\/p>\n then: Pro 4:5, Isa 65:11, 2Th 2:9-14, Rev 12:9 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Zec 7:12 – lest Mar 4:4 – General Mar 16:16 – that believeth and Joh 11:48 – all<\/p>\n SATANS EVIL WORK<\/p>\n Then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.<\/p>\n Luk 8:12<\/p>\n Let us translate the parable a little into modern circumstances. Here is, let us say, a worthy, respectable personregular in public worship, whatever he may be in private. He has joined, or seemed to join, more or less attentively, in a thoroughly Scriptural service. There has been every help to lift the mind to God, and fix holy thoughts and godly resolutions in his heart; no care, no pains have been spared, perhaps, as far as we can see, for his spiritual profit. He rises up at last with Gods Holy Word ringing in his very ears, with Gods own blessing freshly invoked upon his head, to carry home this good seed, this godly instruction, and, if he will, to act upon it and bring forth good fruit. And just at this very moment, when all seems so safe, so hopeful, so prosperous, when we have all prayed that this good seed may sink down inwardly into his heart, when all humbly hope some good has been done, some blessed impression left on his memory, some holy resolution ready to spring up in his heartthen cometh the devil!<\/p>\n I. In the most unlikely moment.Thenfor has he not been watching, as it were, in the very porch? Thenfor he has no time to lose. Then cometh the devil, as he has come to thousands more, as he has come so often, and finds the good seed lying there, and catches it up unopposed, and taketh away that which is sown in his heart. The man was not asleep, nor inattentive. Else good seed would never have got into the ground of his heart at all. When you see the birds fly down on some newly-sown and well-worked piece of land, and with their busy beaks try to rob the sower of his long and careful toil, do you recollect that there is Gods own picture before your eyes of many a hearer of Gods Word, many a worshipper in Gods house; and do you ever ask yourselfHas it been, is it thus, even with me? Good seed, sown over and over again; and what has it all come to? The devil catches away the good seed out of the mans heart, lest he should be saved. Careless souls allow Satan to rob them, to deprive them of their own eternal happiness.<\/p>\n II. How is it that he succeeds so well?Why are so many forgetful hearersso few doers of the Word? Why is so much good seed sownso little fruit borne for Gods glory and mans salvation? He catches away the seed because it never sank down deep; it lay on the surface; it was never, so to say, raked in and covered over. The Psalmist says, O God, Thy word have I hid within my heart, that I should not sin against Thee. That is exactly where the careless hearer fails. Let the Word sink down and be hidden deep, and then, though the devil comes, he cannot snatch it away. What do we read of the Blessed Virgin Mary? (chap. 2) She kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart (Luk 8:19); and again, His mother kept all these sayings in her heart (Luk 8:51). What sort of crop would he have who neither prepared his ground to receive seed, nor covered it over after it was sown? Ah! the plough, and drill, and harrow, the spade and the rake, all teach us lessons. All bid us prepare for seasons of grace.<\/p>\n III. Who is really careful and anxious over this important matter?If we would only form one good resolution, while Gods Holy Word is fresh in our ears; if we would say as some neglected duty is brought to our minds, or some secret sin comes home to our conscienceNow, from this very moment I resolve, before God, to do this, or that (however humble or trifling the act in itself), it would be the greatest safeguard to the good seed. Satan would come and try, but the holy resolution, by Gods help, would be too strong for his cunning. If hell is paved with good intentions, heaven is paved with good resolutions. Let the good resolution be something we can act upon at once. In one, perhaps, it would be a resolution always to read and meditate on at least one verse of Holy Scripture, say at a fixed time daily. Another, perhaps, would resolve to begin the practice of family prayer. Another would resolve to give, perhaps, part of one day in each week to visit the poor. Another, some act of goodwill to an unkind or quarrelsome neighbour. There are hundreds of devout rules, of kind Christian acts, in which we fall short and offend.<\/p>\n Rev. J. T. Parsons.<\/p>\n Illustrations<\/p>\n (1) Nowhere, perhaps, is the Devil so active as in a congregation. Nowhere does he labour so hard to stop the progress of that which is good, and to prevent men and women being saved. From him come wandering thoughts and roving imaginationslistless minds and dull memoriessleepy eyes and fidgety nervesweary ears and distracted attention. In all these things Satan has a great hand. People wonder where they come from, and marvel how it is that they find sermons so dull and remember them so badly! They forget the parable of the sower. They forget the Devil.<\/p>\n (2) The agency of the fowls is externalit is not in the soil itself, nor is it connected with the soil; and, in like manner, the foe who removes the seed from the heartthat is from the memory of manis external. Satan exercises a certain amount of power over the memory. He can relax its grasp, says Christ, upon that which is goodupon that which, if admitted, might convert the soul; and if so, is there any reasonable ground for doubting that he may do mischief in the same quarter in another form, and tighten the hold of the memory upon the evil deposits which by evil accidents have been lodged there?<\/p>\n Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 12. Those by the way side ] These are hearers who are hardened either beaten (i) flat by lifeless familiarity heartless formalists, Pharisaic theologians, and insincere … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 8:12”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I.<\/strong><\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Notice his POWER. It is not said that he tries to do it, but that he actually does so. He sees, he comes, and he conquers. His power is partly derived from his natural sagacity. He is more than a match for preacher and hearer united if the Holy Spirit be not there to baffle him. He has also acquired fresh cunning by long practice in his accursed business. Moreover, he derives his chief power from the mans condition of soul: it is easy for birds to pick up seed which lies exposed on a trodden path. <\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>His PURPOSE. Lest they should believe and be saved Satan takes away the Word out of their hearts. Here also is wisdom–wisdom hidden within the enemys cunning. If the gospel remains in contact with the heart its tendency is to produce faith. (C. H. Spurgeon.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>WHAT IS FAITH? I answer, it is a firm persuasion of the truth of the gospel, accompanied with a deep sense of its importance, and a cordial acceptance of its gracious proposals; and so producing the genuine fruits of love and obedience. We have heard the gospel. Have we believed it? Have we received it in the love of it? and are our hearts and lives influenced and governed by it? <\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>To speak of THE SALVATION PROMISED TO THEM THAT BELIEVE. <\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>THE CONNECTION BETWEEN FAITH AND SALVATION. It is necessary, in order to our being saved, that we believe. Now this necessity arises out of the Divine appointment, and the reason and nature of the thing. <\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"