The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

The first two articles included below are found in the Christadelphian of 1886 pg 318-319.  The third is an answer bro. Roberts gave to a correspondent, agreeing with both articles and stating clearly that the parable has no bearing on ecclesial life.  The answer to the correspondent is from 1886, page 532.

First Article

The What and the Teres

The parable of the wheat and the tares is sometimes quoted as a reason for not disfellowshipping false doctrine. If this application of it had been intended by Christ, there would have been no injunction in the New Testament to “beware of evil workers” ( Phil. 3:2 ), &c., and no condemnation of those who harboured false teachers in their midst. ( Rev. 2:20 .) Such a use of the parable is, therefore, a misapplication. Christ’s words must not be placed in opposition to apostolic injunctions; when considered in connection with them, it will be seen that after all that man can do in purifying an ecclesia of perceptible false teaching and practice, there will still be left wheat and tares, which can only be separated by the penetrating eye of the Infallible Judge.

London.

J. J. Andrew .

Second Article

Brother F. A. Gerdes, of Mason, Tex., U.S.A., writes also concerning the parable of the wheat and the tares. He says: “It has no reference to fellowship and withdrawal whatever. If it had, then such a thing as withdrawal would be positively forbidden by Christ in this place, while in another place he, with equal emphasis, enjoins it ( Matt. 18:17 ). The substance of the parable is this: A man sowed good seed in a field, and afterwards another man sowed tares on the same ground. Then the servants of the former desired to pull up the tares. The master forbids this, and his reason for it is: ‘Lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I shall say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’

“The common interpretation of the whole is as follows: Christ is the man who sowed the wheat; the flesh sows the tares. The wheat are the faithful brethren, while the tares are the unfaithful ones. The faithful want to separate from the unfaithful; but Christ says: Let all remain together until the judgment of the last day.

“Where would this explanation lead us to? The legitimate, in fact the only reasonable conclusion, is that the ‘field’ is the ecclesia, for it is contended that we have no right to exclude from the ecclesia, or, in other more Scriptural words, to withdraw, although the idea is the same; which, of course, destroys Christ’s and the apostles’ command to ‘withdraw,’ to be ‘separate,’ &c., &c. We should in this case have to fellowship any and all who desired us to do so, if they only professed to be in the ‘field,’ or ecclesia, although they might, at the same time, admit themselves that they were ‘tares.’ What brother or sister would be prepared to stand by such a result? It would effectually nullify the entire truth, without the possibility of a remedy. Obviously, this is not the interpretation of the parable, and why men, brethren , should give such an interpretation, when the author of the parable has himself given us one of his own, I am at a loss to understand, unless fleshly affections blind and overbalance their better judgment.

“Let us hear the author’s own interpretation: ‘He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man. The field is the world . The good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels. As, therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world’—viz.: ‘The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend and those who do iniquity.’

“This gives the parable an entirely different aspect. Instead of the ecclesia being the field, it is the world that is the field, and the time has not come yet for the world to be cleared of the offenders, and those that do iniquity; but when that time shall come, then the Lord will send forth his angels, and will ‘break in pieces the oppressor,’ in order that the world , the territory of his Kingdom may be so purified of all present pollution as to be fit to become the basis of an eternal dominion, for the Creator has said, ‘He that ruleth over men must be just,’ and he will not allow unjust rule to be perpetuated for ever.

“Another feature of the false interpretation is that it makes the ecclesia the kingdom. ‘The son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of this kingdom all things that offend.’ They say: Let it all stand together in the ecclesia until the Lord shall separate the tares from the wheat. They are both in the kingdom , for from it Jesus says his angels shall gather the offending, or the tares. It is impossible now to do away with the tares out of the future kingdom without disturbing the wheat, which is not yet ripe, it being not quite harvest time yet; but when this golden autumn shall come then the work of seperation will be done very effectually.

“I should not have written anything on so simple a point only I know by experience how widespread the misconception on it is, and if it be passed over, it must certainly produce the conclusion that there is a contradiction.”

Bro. Roberts answers a correspondent on the two above articles:

W. M.—You err in thinking brother Andrew expressed a different view from brother Gerdes on the parable of the wheat and tares. Read again, and you will see they both show reason for holding that the parable has no reference to ecclesial life. We agree with both.

.By contrast, observe a hymn in the newest Central Hymn Book.