Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 3 Study # 6
May 19, 2020
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(158)
1901 ASV
19 but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
20 And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold."
- I. The Word Falls Into The "Thorns".
- A. Others, which exist, being sown into the thorns [see Notes (155)].
- B. The details [see Notes (155)].
- 1. "Others" is singular in the parable and plural in the explanation and "they are..." "They are" is a statement about the nature of this case: these exist.
- 2. These are described as "being sown into the thorns" (the "other" seeds).
- 3. These are characterized as fruitless because of three issues.
- a. In spite of "hearing The Word", there is the issue of the "anxieties of the age" [see Notes (155)]. In summary, the "anxieties of the age" boil down to all of the mental/ emotional/spiritual inner conflicts that come out of a love/faith/choice/action focus upon body/soul/spirit in "the (current) age" rather than "the age to come" upon which a believer's focus is supposed to be: Mark 10:30 compared with Matthew 6:25-34 and Hebrews 11:10). The particular issue is the spirit of man in its overwhelming commitment to obtain recognition for itself [Note 1 Peter 5:6-7 where "anxiety" is connected to the immediately prior issue of God "...exalting you at the proper time..." Clearly, the "anxieties" are related to the potent desire "to be exalted". There is, likewise, a near-context reference in 2 Corinthians 11:28-30 to "being weak" and "boasting" (which has its roots in this longing to be exalted)].
- b. In spite of "hearing The Word", there is the issue of the "deceitfulness of the wealth".
- 1) Mark's use of the word translated "deceitfulness" is limited to this text.
- a) This word, in this form (noun), is only found in seven texts of the New Testament and it indicates the flawed arguments of "the lusts of deceit" (Ephesians 4:22) which are made in order to persuade a person to yield to them (the "lusts"). "Deceitful lusts" are appetites of body/soul/spirit which are in strong competition with God's "Truth" regarding the roots of "Life". "Life" does not arise from the fulfillment of potent desires; its sole origin is "the living God" Who gives His life to those who "believe" Him without regard for the "deceit of thoughts" that argue that "Life" comes out of anything other than God Himself. It is idolatrous to seek "Life" from any created "thing" or situation; God, alone, is the root of "Life" and His extension of the experience of His "Life" is independent from all other sources of "experiences". Those "experience" the "Life of the Living God" whose love/trust rests upon Him alone.
- b) Jesus, by way of Mark's record, is saying that one of the "thorns" that grows up to prevent The Word from producing fruit is "deceit".
- 2) At issue in particular in regard to "deceit" as a "fruit preventer" is "the wealth" (definite article plus a noun).
- a) Mark only used this word in this text. "The wealth" is presented as an obstacle to the seed's ability to produce fruit. This means that "wealth" of the wrong kind is subversive of "faith". It keeps a person from trusting in God according to His Word and subverts "faith" into a confidence in "an abundance of material possessions" instead of confidence in the promises of God. By way of a larger context, the "anxieties of this age" focus upon the lust for the divine prerogative of dominion over the events of this age (a "spiritual" deceit where "Life" is deceptively rooted in the notion of "being in control"), the "deceitfulness of the wealth" focuses upon the 'security' notions of those who have an abundance of material possessions and think that they, by that abundance, can secure themselves in the flow of events in this age (a "soulish" deceit), and the lusts for other things focus upon physical pleasures (where "Life" is defined in terms of physical pleasures; a "physical body" deceit).
- b) "The wealth" that deceives is in direct contrast with "the wealth of the glory of God" in the New Testament (Romans 9:23; 11:33 and Ephesians 3:8). In other words, there is a "wealth" of Egypt (Hebrews 11:26) and a "wealth" of the glory of God, and the two are in competition for the "faith" (confidence) of men.
- c) For the sake of "focus", the Bible presents "the wealth" as a "substitute god" (Colossians 3:5). "God" is supposed to be the "focus of the heart when there is a threat to the well-being of the person involved" because "God" is a direct reference to "The Power to act on the behalf of the one being threatened". Thus, "security" is the issue, and the "soul" is the focus. In this scenario, the person needs a "protector" because the inner spirit of man is seen as too weak to protect its own interests.
- c. In spite of "hearing The Word", there is the issue of the "longings regarding 'the rest of' things'".
- 1) The word I have chosen to render as "longings" is an intensive form of a noun that is used mostly in 'negative' texts where it is related to the hostility of sinners toward anyone who stands in their way in their pursuit of their own agendas, but is, in John's Revelation of Jesus Christ, used extensively in relation to God's explosive hostility toward a creation that has nurtured its "God-hatred" for millennia and "stacked up for itself wrath in the day of wrath" (Romans 2:5).
- a) As an "intensive form", it significantly adds impetus to the notion of an already powerful commitment to the pursuit of an agenda.
- b) The term is typically used when an obstacle arises in the way of a powerful pursuit of a deeply held agenda. That "obstacle" immediately, and intensely, becomes an object of "explosive emotional determination" on the part of the one in pursuit of the agenda.
- c) Thus, these "longings" are the roots of this "explosive emotional determination". They are "fixed" issues of "determined pursuits" and woe to the one who gets in the way.
- 2) These "longings" are "for" what I have translated "the rest of things" (both the Authorized Version and the NASB use the phrase "other things").
- a) Mark's use of this word ("the rest of things") is limited to three texts, but they give us a sense of the meaning involved.
- i) In our current text, "the rest of things" suggests that there are a "few" things already "in the basket" and the goal is to put "the rest of things" in that basket.
- ii) In Marks' next use (14:41) Jesus uses the word to rebuke a "third time" response of the disciples to His "prayer of extremity"..."Are you still sleeping?" Here we have the idea that, at an earlier point, they had decided to sleep instead of praying, and, in spite of His warning and rebuke after the first time He wakened them, and the second time, He now questions this decision to pursue sleep no matter what. Thus, the meaning involves a firm commitment to a pursuit no matter the consequences.
- iii) In the final use (16:13), which is actually not a part of Mark's record (his record ends at 16:8 with a suddenness that has created attempts by several to give it 'a more acceptable ending'), but is a part of the meaning of the word in the culture; the "rest of things" actually means "the other disciples". Jesus had revealed Himself to "some" of the disciples and they went to tell "the rest of them". The meaning is consistent: there are some "left overs" from the core that are to be included (added to the basket).
- b) Thus, Jesus' use of this word in the parable indicates that there is a "core" of objectives that are "determinedly held" and that "core" has "outliers" that need to be included in the pursuits. This is the third obstacle to the seed's ability to yield fruit: "other" objectives attached to the "anxieties" and the "deceits". "Anxieties" have to do with "values held"; "deceits" have to do with "lies believed"; and "other things" have to do with attempting to make a clean sweep to get all things "in the basket". Thus, "the basket" is "Life" and all of these three issues have to do with how the thorns starve out the seed. As long as "Life" is conceived to be the product of many/any things, rather than God Himself, "fruit" is stymied.