Kenneth W. Yates

EDITOR

I. INTRODUCTION

The Parable of the Four Soils is found in Mark 4:3-8. The Lord interprets the parable in 4:15-20.¹ At face value Jesus says that the Word concerning Him and His coming kingdom will go out through His teaching and the teaching of His disciples. People will respond to that Word in various ways. The Word is like a seed planted in the soil. Each person’s response is represented by a particular soil, which pictures how that person’s heart receives the Word given to him.

The four soils are the hardened soil on the side of a road, the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the good soil. Since only the good soil is said to produce an abundant crop—even though there are various degrees of that abundance—many maintain that only this last soil is a picture of believers. Associated with this idea is the belief that all “true” believers will have a good crop of spiritual fruit. The hardened soil, the rocky soil, and the thorny soil all describe different kinds of unbelievers.²

However, any fair reading of the parable will not come to those conclusions. There are not three kinds of unbelievers. A hearer either believes or he doesn’t. The good soil is not the only one that produces life; the rocky and thorny soils do as well. All three of these soils result in a plant, which is a proof of life. Unbelievers do not have eternal life.

It is not the purpose of this article to address the specifics of the different soils. There are excellent treatments of the subject which the reader can access. This article will start with the assumption that the last three soils describe people who have believed in Jesus Christ for eternal life. In these soils, the issue is not eternal salvation, but fruitfulness. Some believers will not produce a rich spiritual crop in their lives.³

After giving the parable, the Lord tells the disciples that it is the key to understanding all of His parables (4:13). It would not be surprising, then, if the reader of Mark’s Gospel sees the truths of this parable worked out in the book. In fact, that is exactly what one sees. There are numerous illustrations of the soils, which also serve as warnings and instruction to all the disciples. I will look at these various illustrations, leading up to the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem in chap. 11.

II. THE DISCIPLES IN THE FIRST BOAT SCENE (4:35-41)

In the Gospel of Mark, there are three boat scenes in which the disciples are involved (4:35-41; 6:45-52; 8:13-21). In each instance, the reader sees how these men respond to what the Lord has told them. How do their hearts respond to the seed of Christ’s Word? In each case, the disciples come across in a negative light. If we compare them to the different soils, they do not illustrate believers with hearts made up of good soil. While some might conclude they were not believers, this is certainly incorrect. The Gospel of John, particularly, makes it clear they believed (John 1:41-49; 2:11).⁴

This first boat scene occurs immediately after Jesus taught them through parables, including the Parable of the Four Soils (4:33-34). In all of these parables, there is the promise of a coming, eternal kingdom. Jesus is obviously the King of that kingdom. That is the “seed” given to the disciples. Mark wants to make a connection between the teachings of the Lord and this boat scene in v 35. They all happened on the same day.⁵

How did they respond to that teaching? While in the boat with the Lord, a severe storm arises. The disciples are terrified and fear that they are going to die (vv 37-38). They wake up the Lord and plead for Him to save their lives.

The response of the Lord indicates that there was a problem deeper than their fear of dying on the lake. He asks them why they do not have faith (v 40). Since this occurs right after they were taught the parables, the connection strongly suggests that these men did not believe what they had been told in those parables. The faith spoken of here is not the faith that leads to eternal life. This faith involves believing what Jesus just told them in the parables about the coming kingdom. Marshall calls it a faith that involves practical confidence in the power of God to deliver through the miraculous.⁶

The second soil is the rocky soil. The Lord says it represents those who believe the Word spoken, but when hard times come, they fall away. While the falling away in this instance in the boat is not permanent, it is easy to see that the disciples have forgotten what the Lord taught them. They found themselves in difficult circumstances and their faith failed them. When in the boat, they had hearts that could be described as those composed of rocky soil.

III. THE PEOPLE OF GADARA (5:1-20)

After Jesus and the disciples get out of the boat, they come ashore in the land of Gadara.⁷ While there, Jesus casts a large number of demons out of a man into a herd of approximately 2,000 pigs. The pigs rush down a cliff and drown in the Sea of Galilee.

Clearly, this man was given a great deliverance by the Lord. His previous condition was well known to the people of the region. They were witnesses of the miraculous power needed to deliver him.

The Lord spends several hours in the region, and it is certain that He did some teaching. It is clear that He taught the man who previously had the demons about who He is (Mark 5:19-20). Others would have heard this truth as well. How did the people in Gadara respond to the “seed” spread among them in the teaching and power of Christ?

Mark relates how the people became frightened at what they had seen (v 15). They then ask the Lord to depart from that area. At first glance it appears they reject His work and words because they are afraid of the power they have just seen.⁸ But more is at play here. The death of 2,000 pigs would have been a tremendous economic loss to the citizens of Gadara. In v 16, the emphasis on the pigs suggests this was the main reason they wanted Him to leave. His actions had cost them a great deal of money.⁹

How should we characterize the spiritual condition of all the people who heard and saw the Lord? No doubt, many did not believe in Him. Their hearts were hardened to the Word of God. Their fear of the supernatural power displayed or the resentment at the loss of their livelihood made them unwilling to consider the possibility that Jesus was the Christ. They were, in the words of the Parable of the Four Soils, like the hardened first soil.

But is it necessary to conclude that this was the case with all those who asked Jesus to leave? Could some have believed in Him as the Christ but still desired that He leave because of the cost His presence might bring? It will be argued later that among the Jews, the preaching of the Word to the masses definitely included believers in the crowd along with the many who did not believe. The man who previously had the demons falls within this category.

If there were believers among the general population of unbelieving Gadara, they are examples of the third, thorny soil. They asked Jesus to leave because they were carried away by the worries of this world and the deceitfulness of riches (4:18-19).

This was not the case with the man who previously had the demons. Even though he had experienced the power of the Lord in a very personal way, he was not afraid. He wanted to follow the Lord in discipleship. In addition, the Lord sent him to proclaim the good news of what Christ had done for him in a region that had rejected the Lord. He faithfully did so. He is a graphic illustration of the fourth soil.

IV. JAIRUS AND THE WOMAN WITH AN ISSUE OF BLOOD (5:21-43)

Jairus is a ruler in the synagogue at Capernaum. The woman with the issue of blood is not named. While one may hold that they are unbelievers, there are arguments for the contrary. We know Jairus’ name, which suggests he was known to the early church. In the case of the woman, Jesus tells her that her faith has saved her (v 34). This is the exact same phrase Jesus uses with Bartimaeus in Mark 10:52, and he is certainly seen as a believer. While she was clearly saved from her illness, it is reasonable to conclude that her faith also included believing that Jesus is the Christ and that she was saved spiritually by her faith as well. Williams accurately points out that in Mark’s Gospel, these two are minor characters who offer a rebuke and example for the twelve disciples.¹⁰

These two accounts are an example of intercalation or sandwiching. This means there are two episodes that go together and interpret each other.¹¹ Both Jairus and the woman are connected by the fact that each grows in his or her faith and overcomes fear and difficulties, and each is associated with the number 12.¹² In addition, in the healing involved with each, Jesus touches a person that would have brought ritual defilement according to official Judaism.

Prior to these two healings, the disciples are fearful and lack faith (4:40-41). In this sense, they were like the people of Gadara (5:15). Jairus is faced with fear as well when he hears that his daughter has died and is told to have faith (v 36). The woman confronts the same issues (vv 33-34). Jairus knows that Jesus can heal his daughter as long as she is alive, but the Lord tells Him to also believe in His ability to raise the dead and to cast his fear aside even though the situation seems hopeless. The woman is called to publicly come forward to proclaim what happened to her.¹³ She does this even though she was a social and religious outcast, and her condition was one of private embarrassment.¹⁴

Both Jairus and the woman overcome their fear. Jairus continues going with the Lord even after his daughter has died and the woman publicly comes forth to explain to the Lord and the crowd what she had done. More importantly, each grew in his or her faith in the sense that each believed new things that the Lord taught him or her. Jairus learned that Jesus could even raise his daughter from the dead. The woman learned that it was not touching the garment of Jesus that saved her from her illness. This is what she thought at first, based upon what she had either seen or heard or even perhaps her superstition (cf. Mark 3:10). Jesus had the authority to heal her by His power, not the magical qualities of His clothes. The connection between Jairus and this woman also involves the fact that this woman was a teaching lesson for him. He saw this woman overcome her fear and take Jesus at His Word. He could do the same.

In other words, both Jairus and the woman grew in their faith. They already believed in Jesus as the Messiah and believed that He could heal. But as they were given new information, they believed what Jesus told them. Throughout Mark, Jesus is teaching the disciples new things. They needed to follow the examples of Jairus and this woman in this regard.

The word about Jesus Christ had reached Jairus and the woman; they had believed it. It would have been easy for Jairus to avoid any association with Jesus. The religious leaders at his synagogue were opposed to Him (3:1-6), and those from Jerusalem had condemned Him (3:22). Whether it was simply the dire circumstances he found himself in with his daughter’s illness or the boldness of his faith, he was willing to publicly come to Christ, even if it meant the loss of whatever privileges came his way as a respected leader in the synagogue. Neither did he shy away from any persecution that might come his way. His heart was not made up of rocky or thorny soil. While the woman may not have faced the possible persecution Jairus did, she too overcame the difficulties she needed to in order to approach Christ.

Both Jairus and the woman had hearts made up of good soil. They believed what the Lord told them. In them, the reader of Mark learns a lesson about that soil. Discipleship involves growing in faith when it comes to new things. The fourth soil is one that when it hears these new things, it casts aside fear and believes what the Word of God says. The twelve disciples could learn a lesson from these two minor characters.

V. PEOPLE IN JESUS’ HOMETOWN (6:1-6)

Mark records a trip that the Lord makes to His hometown of Nazareth. It is a particularly sad event. He speaks in the synagogue and the people know that He has performed many miracles. When He speaks, they also recognize He is a man with profound wisdom.

The “seed” of His Word goes out to them. How do they respond? They were offended by Him (v 3). The expression they were offended (eskandalizontō) carries with it the idea of deep rejection and denial.¹⁵ Since Jesus was a common laborer who grew up in Nazareth and the people of the town knew His family, they concluded that He could not be the Christ. Nobody with such a common background could be the long-awaited promised king.

Lane suggests that the depth of their rejection is seen in their recognition of His power and wisdom. These things had to come from some source. Since they had concluded that Jesus was not sent from God, such supernatural power had to come from Satan. This is what certain religious leaders had concluded as well (3:22). Jesus “marveled” at such unbelief (v 6). This is the only place in the NT where Jesus has this reaction in a negative situation.¹⁶

The unbelief at Nazareth is a clear example of the hardened first soil in the Parable of the Four Soils. The vast majority of people in the town were not willing to listen. Their hearts were hardened to the truth Jesus taught and showed them. The seed of Christ’s Word could not penetrate that hardness.

But even in this terribly sad situation, not all is bleak. Even at Nazareth, there appears to be some spiritual success. Mark tells us that Jesus was even able to heal a few people in Nazareth (v 5). There were some there who were open to what He was doing.

It is also completely reasonable to conclude there were even a few who were open to what He was teaching. In fact, Mark relates how He continued teaching in the surrounding area (v 6). In the Parable of the Four Soils, the Lord said that people will respond to His Word in four different ways. What the Lord taught in Nazareth and the surrounding area did not fall only on hardened hearts.

We should not conclude that whenever a crowd of people heard the Lord, all responded in the same way. Dillow points out a common, probably incorrect, practice of Bible readers. Whenever the reader of the NT reads about a crowd or the “multitude,” there is a tendency to contrast them with the disciples and conclude that the crowd is made up of unbelievers.¹⁷ There is no reason to see the multitudes in Mark in that way. It also does not make sense logically, since a large group of people will not react in uniformity to what they hear. In the crowds, there were certainly some believers.¹⁸ In at least one instance, Jesus says that the “multitude” was made up of believers (Mark 3:32-34). In Mark 7:14-15 the “crowd” is contrasted to the unbelieving Pharisees. Jesus calls the crowd to Him in order to teach those who are a part of it. The most natural implication is that there were those in the crowd who had believed in Him.

Put simply, Jesus spoke to large crowds. When He did so, the hearts of the different hearers were made up of different kinds of soils. In the rest of Mark 6, there is another example of the Lord speaking to a large group, as well as the account of the disciples doing so.

VI. THE MISSION OF THE TWELVE AND THE FEEDING OF THE 5,000 (6:7-13, 30; 31-44)

In Mark 6, Jesus sends out the twelve disciples in order to continue His work in the towns and villages of Galilee. When He called them to be His disciples, He told them they would be fishers of men (1:17). They now begin that process. They proclaim the same message and perform the same miracles that He did (1:15; 6:12-13).

This mission is discussed in all three Synoptic Gospels (Matt 10:1ff; Luke 9:1-6). However, only Mark mentions that when they returned, they told the Lord all that they had taught the people (6:30). They were also able to cast out many demons and heal many sick people. Their message certainly included the fact that Jesus was the Christ. They were now spreading the seed of God’s Word. The miracles they performed through the authority Christ gave them demonstrated the veracity of their message.

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Galilee at the time of Christ had over 200 villages and was heavily populated.¹⁹ With all twelve disciples going out teaching, a large group of people would have heard the message. The seed would have been sown in many hearts, and there would have been many different kinds of responses. While some did not believe, others did. Among those who believed, there would have been different levels of commitment to following the Lord. At least some of those who had believed wanted to know more and sought to do so.

In Mark’s account, immediately after the disciples returned from their mission, Jesus wanted to take them to a lonely place for rest (6:30-31). However, this was not possible because there was a large crowd of people coming to them. No doubt, this crowd was due in large part to the successful teaching tour of the disciples. They had come to hear more not only from the disciples, but also from the One about whom the disciples had preached. They were following the disciples for that very purpose. In other words, they were seeking to hear and be with the Lord.

Jesus spends many hours teaching them in this deserted place. While, once again, some might say this crowd was made up entirely of unbelievers, this would be highly unlikely. There are no reported miracles performed by the Lord during those hours of teaching.²⁰ The people stayed during these long hours without food or water. This demonstrated their commitment to Him at least at some level. Because of the Lord’s compassion on them, He miraculously feeds them in the wilderness with only a few fish and loaves of bread. This display of power would have helped demonstrate the truth of what He had taught them for all those hours.

It strains belief to conclude that the Lord did not speak of Himself and the coming kingdom of God. This is what Jesus proclaimed (1:15).²¹ In fact, in John’s account, many in the crowd followed the Lord the next day, and He told them of their need to believe in Him for eternal life (John 6:22-40).

Mark tells us that Jesus fed a multitude which consisted of 5,000 men. Since this number did not include women or children (Matt 14:21), the total number who heard the words of Jesus that day probably numbered over 10,000.²² Jesus sees Himself as the shepherd of this large group (Mark 6:34). That is why He feeds them both physically with bread and spiritually with His Word. Their religious and political leaders had abandoned them.²³ Of the more than 10,000 individuals present, most would have been unbelievers. These would have been people who perhaps were there simply to see some miracle performed. But there also would have been believers of various stripes in the group. Some would have feared being publicly associated with Christ and the consequences of such an association (rocky soil). Some would have not wanted to follow the Lord because they loved the comfort of their lives (thorny soil). But some, after seeing His power and hearing His Word would have desired to follow Him and learn more from Him.

Even though Wiersbe sees this crowd in a mostly negative light, he recognizes that there were believers in it. He says that the crowd failed to understand the “spiritual message” of Christ’s teaching and followed Him only for the help He gave them when He fed them. However, he acknowledges that this was only for the “most part.”²⁴ There were some who followed Christ with good and noble hearts. This agrees with the proposition that there were other types of soil among the crowd, other than the hardened soil. This writer would add that we simply cannot determine the percentage of each type of soil in such a large crowd.

Later, Jesus leaves the predominately Jewish Galilee and travels to a mostly Gentile area. Mark records two instances where multitudes are exposed to the Lord. In one case, in Decapolis,²⁵ He heals a deaf man who also had difficulty speaking. It is clear that He did other things because the multitude concludes that He had done all things well, even healing the deaf and dumb (7:31-37). This certainly indicates that the hearts of many people in that region were open to what He was doing and saying. There would have been different responses to the seed Christ was sowing in Decapolis.

This is supported by the fact that immediately after the reaction of the people in Decapolis, Mark records another account of Jesus feeding a multitude. He connects this with the people in Decapolis by saying that this feeding took place “in those days” (8:1). Once again, it is a desert area (8:4), and in this case the people remain with the Lord for three days. Many of them had also traveled at a great distance to be with Him (8:3). The cost of being with Him was that they were experiencing hunger because of lack of food.

This crowd numbered in the thousands (8:9). Matthew states that Jesus healed many sick people (Matt 15:31), but in three days the Lord would have also taught the people many things. There would have been many there who did not need healing. Among this group would have been believers in what Jesus was teaching. These believers would have been made up of the last three soils in the Parable of the Four Soils. The positive descriptions Mark gives of these individuals demand such a conclusion.

Whenever the Lord spoke to these large crowds, especially when He did so over a long period of time, the words of the Lord Himself suggests that there would have been all four types of soils among the people. When Jesus gave the parable, He said that when the sower spread the seed of His Word, that seed would come to rest on all four (Mark 4:3-8). Among thousands of listeners, this would certainly be the case.

VII. DISCIPLES AND THE SECOND AND THIRD BOAT SCENES (6:45-52; 8:12-21)

The second boat scene involving the disciples occurs after the feeding of the 5,000. The Lord comes to them, walking on the water in the midst of a strong wind storm. They think Jesus is a ghost and are frightened (6:50). This is the same reaction they had in the first boat scene.

When the Lord gets into the boat with them, the wind stopped and they are amazed. Mark says that the reaction of the disciples was because they had not understood what happened when Jesus fed the 5,000. In that feeding, Jesus showed that He would meet the needs of His sheep. He was their Shepherd, just as God was the Shepherd of His people in Psalm 23. As a result, they had nothing to fear.

In this example, the disciples did not believe what Jesus had revealed to them. Their hearts were not receptive to this new information. It is of interest that Mark says that their hearts were “hardened” (6:52). This description reminds the reader of the first soil, where the seed of God’s Word cannot penetrate the ground it falls on. In fact, in Mark 3:5 the unbelieving Pharisees are described as having hard hearts. The disciples were believers, but their hearts were too hard to understand the new truth Jesus had just taught them.

In the third boat scene, a similar thing occurs. After seeing Jesus miraculously feed the 4,000, the disciples think that the Lord is not pleased with them because they did not bring bread with them. Once again, He rebukes them for not learning from what He has taught them. How could they possibly conclude that He was concerned about the amount of bread they had brought, after they had seen Him feed thousands of people with a few loaves of bread? As in the second boat scene, He points out that their hearts are hardened.

But He adds a further rebuke. He quotes from the OT and asks if they were blind and lacked understanding (8:18). Earlier, He had used such imagery to describe unbelievers who were on the “outside” (4:12). Those on the outside did not understand the things Jesus taught.

The reference to the hardness of hearts of the believing disciples in Mark is telling. This, along with their blindness and inability to understand what Jesus was saying, indicates that they were acting like unbelievers. We must conclude that when it comes to appropriating spiritual truths, believers can indeed act in that way. When that happens, the heart of the believer is like the first soil. Hornok suggests that these words by the Lord were an attack on the pride of the disciples. Perhaps they thought they had hearts represented by the good soil because of their closeness to the Lord and that He had privately explained the meaning of the parable to them (4:10-20). In practice, however, they were acting like those outside of this favored position.²⁶ This would have been a call for them to take heed to how they responded to all the things Christ was teaching them.

As the Book of Mark progresses, the Twelve continue to struggle with understanding the Lord’s instruction. As He teaches them about the suffering that will result from following Him, they are not able to understand. James and John demonstrate a heart made up of thorny soil as they reveal that they are more interested in power, prestige, and getting ahead of others than suffering for Christ (Mark 10:35-37).

VIII. BARTIMAEUS: A GREAT EXAMPLE OF THE FOURTH SOIL (10:46-52)

Blind Bartimaeus is an important person in Mark’s Gospel. He is the only person Jesus heals who is named in the book. He is the only one in the book who calls Jesus the Son of David, a Messianic title. He is one who gains his sight, which is a picture of spiritual insight as well. When the reader considers this man, there can be no doubt that he was a believer. But he was more than that. He becomes a model for others to follow.²⁷ He is an example of the fourth soil.

Bartimaeus has heard about the deeds and words of Jesus. He knew that Jesus had healed others just like him. He knew that the Messiah would be able to heal. All of his actions show that his heart is fertile ground for the things he has heard. That heart is not rocky. He does not let difficulties prevent him from coming to Jesus and following Him. He is blind and an outcast in that society. As a result, the people tell him to be quiet when he calls out to the Lord. It would have been easy to conclude that Jesus could not be bothered by someone as insignificant as he was. Yet, he continues to call out to the Lord. When he is healed, he follows Him on the difficult road to Jerusalem, where Jesus will meet His ignoble death.

But his heart is not thorny either. His meager possessions, whatever they might be, are nothing compared to being with the Lord. He tosses aside his important coat and whatever alms were in it when the Lord calls him.

In following Jesus on the road to Jerusalem, Bartimaeus is following in His path of suffering. No doubt, the Lord taught him more as they traveled that road together. Bartimaeus is presented in such a positive light that the reader is left with the impression that his heart will believe and that he will act upon the things he learns as he leaves Jericho with the Lord. He becomes an outstanding example of a believer whose heart firmly grasps the words of the Lord and bears much fruit.

IX. CONCLUSION

The Parable of the Four Soils in Mark 4 is a key part of Christ’s teaching. He Himself says it is a basic part of what He teaches the disciples. If they don’t understand it, they won’t be able to understand the other parables He gives them. Not surprisingly, the application of this parable can be seen throughout the book.

It is unfortunate that many have grossly misunderstood such an important parable. They begin with their theological view that all true Christians are fruit bearing, and therefore the thorny and rocky soils must represent unbelievers. This not only contradicts Christian experience, but Mark shows that believers can indeed respond in ways that do not produce spiritual fruit. This is most clearly seen in the twelve disciples who were closest to the Lord. Of all the Synoptic Gospels, Mark paints a picture of the disciples which indicates that even though they were believers and had eternal life, they did not have hearts made up of good soil when it came to taking in the teachings of the Lord.

When the Lord spoke in parables, He indicated that it was of extreme importance that the person listening to Him should be careful how He listens (Mark 4:9, 23-24). Marshall is correct when he says that this is especially true with the Parable of the Four Soils. He states that, “the parable is concerned with the way in which men hear the Word of God, and constitutes a summons to them to take care how they hear it.”²⁸

Interpreters can quibble over the parable’s main audience. Hornok maintains that the first soil can be applied to unbelievers but holds that the main idea of the parable is not about the eternal salvation of those who hear the Word of God. Jesus is talking to the disciples and tells them to be careful how they hear. The hardness of their hearts in the boat scenes shows that believers can be represented in the first soil. Her view is that the primary purpose of all four soils is to be an admonition to believers. The Word of God needs to grow, bear fruit, and reproduce itself. In order for that to happen, it needs to find a fertile heart in the believer. If believers do not listen carefully with a receptive heart, the Word can be stolen, starved or strangled.²⁹ Once again, the example of the disciples in Mark provides a lesson of how believers can refuse to believe new truth from God’s Word.

However, it can also be maintained that the primary reference of the first soil is to unbelievers.³⁰ Those who hear the Word and are not willing to believe, for whatever reason, do not have life. But it is also clear, based upon the example of the disciples, that believers can act like unbelievers when they do not grow in their knowledge of God’s Word and put it into practice.

Regardless of the main emphasis, Mark makes it clear that believers can learn from observing all four soils and how they each respond to God’s Word. Believers should constantly ask themselves: What is the condition of my heart? Do I believe what God reveals to me in His Word?

But believers can also learn another example from the disciples. The condition of our heart is not a static thing. It can change. If, like the disciples, I find that I am receiving the Word of God with a rocky or thorny heart, I do not have to leave it in that condition. Even though Mark paints the bleakest picture of the disciples, all students of the Bible know that the instruction of the Lord produced great results in these men. It is not a guarantee, but the Lord can do the same thing in any believer’s life. We can be like Bartimaeus!

This parable also leaves us with a strong encouragement. Like the Lord and the disciples, we too can sow the seed of God’s Word. If we are faithful in doing so, we can expect that there will be some who respond positively. Some will not believe. But some will. And among those who do, some will even produce much fruit.

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¹ Matthew and Luke also contain this parable (Matt 13:3-9; Luke 8:5-8).

² John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1955), 153-55; John D. Grassmick, “Mark,” The Bible Knowledge Commentary, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983), 119-20; John F. MacArthur, “The Four Soils: Fertile Ground,” https://www.gty.org/library/blog/B170823/the-four-soils-the-fertile-ground. Accessed Jan 4, 2021. Of course, some would modify this view somewhat by saying that the last believers (rocky and thorny) can lose their eternal salvation if they do not produce a crop of good works.

³ Robert N. Wilkin, “How Deep Are Your Spiritual Roots? Luke 8:11-15,” JOTGES 12 (Spring 1999): 5-12; Zane C. Hodges, A Free Grace Primer: The Hungry Inherit, The Gospel Under Siege, Grace in Eclipse (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2011), 51-56; Joseph C. Dillow, Final Destiny: The Future Reign of the Servant Kings (Monument, CO: Paniym Group, Inc., 2012), 518-22.

⁴ Judas was the lone exception.

⁵ France points out this connection. Richard T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 222.

⁶ Christopher D. Marshall, Faith as a Theme in Mark’s Narrative (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 217-18.

⁷ The Critical Text says it is the land of Gerasa.

⁸ H. van der Loos, The Miracles of Jesus (Leiden: Brill, 1965), 393.

⁹ William L. Lane, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974), 187.

¹⁰ Joel F. Williams, “Discipleship and Minor Characters in Mark’s Gospel,” BibSac153 (1996): 338.

¹¹ James A. Brooks, Mark (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 1991), 73.

¹² Jairus’ daughter who died was 12 years old, and the woman had been sick for 12 years.

¹³ Williams, “Discipleship,” 338.

¹⁴ Anybody touching her before she was healed was considered ceremonially unclean and would have to perform a ritual bath (Lev 15:25-27). When she touches the Lord, she does not want anybody to notice her actions. If she was from that particular place and had not traveled a long distance to get there, many in the crowd would have known of her condition. In that case, she would have approached Jesus in as much secrecy as she could have mustered.

¹⁵ BDAG, s.v. “skandalizō,” 926; France, Mark, 243

¹⁶ The only other instance when Jesus “marvels” at something is when He marvels at the great faith of the centurion in Matt 8:10.

¹⁷ Dillow, Final Destiny, 265.

¹⁸ Paul S. Minear, “Audience Criticism and Markan Ecclesiology,” in Neues Testament und Geschichte (Tübingen: Mohr, 1972), 79-89.

¹⁹ Flavius Josephus, The Works of Josephus, trans. William Whiston (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 1980), Vita 45; Bellum Judaicum 3.3.2.

²⁰ Matthew does mention that the Lord healed their sick prior to teaching, but Mark does not (Matt 14:14).

²¹ Jesus preached a message of repentance, as did John the Baptist. This is not the same message believers today proclaim, at least not to unbelievers. Repentance, when defined as turning from sin, is not a requirement of receiving eternal life. Jesus and John preached to the nation of Israel. For the kingdom to come to the nation, the nation as a whole was required to turn from their sin. The point of this article is that when the disciple of the Lord proclaims God’s word, in whatever age and to whatever audience, people will respond differently. For a discussion on the meaning of repentance and how it is not a part of receiving eternal life, see Zane C. Hodges, Absolutely Free, Second Edition (Corinth, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2014), 146-50. All of chapter 12 deals with repentance.

²² John A. Martin, “Luke,” The Bible Knowledge Commentary, eds. John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983), 229.

²³ In the previous chapter, Mark records the evil character of the political “shepherd” of the people, Herod Antipas (Mark 6:14-29).

²⁴ Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 1:132.

²⁵ The word Decapolis literally means ten cities. Nine of the ten cities were east of the Jordan River in Gentile territory. See, Barry K. Mershon, Jr., “Mark,” The Grace New Testament Commentary, ed. Robert N. Wilkin (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2019), 90.

²⁶ Marcia Hornok, “Excavating the Parable of the Sower: Discerning Jesus’ Meaning,” Journal of Dispensational Theology 19 (2015): 195.

²⁷ Kenneth W. Yates, “The Healing of Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52), Part 1,” JOTGES 29 (Autumn 2016): 3-15.

²⁸ I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1978), 318.

²⁹ Hornok, “Excavating,” 198.

³⁰ In the Lukan version of the parable, a comparison of Luke 8:12 and 8:13 shows that the first soil there unambiguously represents unbelievers only. However, the Lord taught His parables on many different occasions and in different ways. It is possible, therefore, that when the Lord presented the parable as recorded in Mark that He did not intend the first soil to be understood as exclusively representing unbelievers.