Luke 8:14

Luk_8:14

And that which fell among thorns

Signs of excessive worldliness

I.

TO APPLY TESTS OF WORLDLINESS IS VERY NECESSARY. It is difficult to convince ourselves that we are too much engrossed in our worldly cares. If a man is intemperate, or profane, or fraudulent, it is easy for him to know his own sin; but worldliness comes to us so much under the guise of duty, that it is difficult to detect its real character. There is, also, the further difficulty, that it is so hard to fix the boundary between a necessary attention to business and a sinful absorption in it.

II. One sign of excessive worldliness is, GREAT ANXIETY OF MIND IN OUR WORLDLY PURSUITS. A Christian should be diligent in business, and improve every lawful means of acquisition, but not as if his whole happiness were at stake. His real treasure is untouched, however the world may go with him.

III. But the great test by which the Christian should judge, is THE EFFECT OF HIS WORLDLY BUSINESS UPON HIS RELIGIOUS DUTIES. Even when the duties of devotion are regularly performed, it may be with the world uppermost in our hearts. When the Bible is read, the eye may see its words, but the thoughts may be upon some plan for the day, so that we may read as we would with one at our side calling us away to something we love better. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)

Why cares and pleasures are associated together

No two persons are more unlike at first sight than the man of care and the man of pleasure. The man of care does not know what pleasure is; he is always fretting and chafing at something or other; everything goes wrong, or seems to go wrong, with him; he is always making the worst of things, looking at their dark side rather than their bright side. The man of pleasure, on the other hand, passes his whole existence in the sunshine. If, by chance, trouble comes in his way, he puts it from him, or closes his eyes against it; he is too much bent on enjoying himself to allow anything to annoy and disturb him. How comes it, then, that unlike, nay, opposite as such characters are, they are here set down side by side, and are represented as occupying precisely the same ground? How comes it that he who saunters leisurely through life, gathering freely as he goes of every pleasure, and he who drags himself heavily along, under the weight of many burdens, find themselves standing side by side at last, and coming to the same end? It is not difficult to find the reason. The cares of life and its pleasures are both of the nature of weeds--weeds of very different kind indeed, but each of them equally the natural product of the human heart; each requires only to be left to itself, and it will soon overrun the whole heart, and choke the good seed. And it will not make much difference, at the great harvestday, whether the failure of the crop in us was owing to an undue growth of cares or of pleasures. (H. Harris, B. D.)

Good ground spoilt by neglect

The very same piece of ground stands for both the man of care and the man of pleasure. And what kind of ground is it? Strange to say, the ground itself seems to be very good ground; it is not the hard wayside, where the seed never once gets beneath the surface, but is trodden under foot by every passer-by, and picked up by the birds; it is not even like the rocky ground, where there is no depth of soil to support the root when the seed has sprung up and begun to grow. No, the ground of which we are now speaking stands the very next to the good ground, and seems to be of very much the same kind with it; and yet, whilst the one is bringing forth its thirty-folds, and sixtyfold, and hundredfold, ripe for the harvest, the other has not a single full ear; it yields no more than the rocky ground, no more, even, than the wayside. And yet, how is this? How comes it to be so near to the good ground, and yet so far removed from it? how comes it to promise so much, and to break its promise so entirely? We shall, perhaps, best answer this question by means of an example. We sometimes, then, see two pieces of allotment, or garden-ground, lying alongside each other, the one with a very plentiful crop, the other growing nothing but weeds. And how comes this? It cannot be owing to any natural difference in the two pieces of ground, for they lie within a few feet of one another, and are exposed to just the same amount of air, and rain, and sunshine. How comes it, then, that the produce of the two pieces of land is so very different? We shall have no difficulty in finding the answer. We shall say at once, it is quite plain that these two pieces of ground have been treated quite differently; one of them has been kept properly looked to, and the other has not. And this, too, is the very difference of which we are in search between the good ground and the ground choked with thorns in the parable; the soil itself is the same, or much the same, in each, only in the one case it has been properly attended to, and in the other it has been left to itself. And so, whilst on the good ground the seed has had nothing to hinder it from steadily growing and ripening for the harvest, the seed on the other ground, after making a vigorous effort, has stopped short, and never got any further; the depth of earth which supports it has lent the same amount of nourishment to the weeds which have been allowed to grow up with it. As it has grown, so they have grown; and long before the time of the harvest has come, they have all run together, the good seed and the weeds, and have choked each other. (H. Harris, B. D. )

Worldly amusements

I. On those amusements which are absolutely sinful, it is not necessary that we spend many words.

II. There are innocent amusements in which a Christian may indulge, but with moderation. Still there must be a wise moderation. The love of pleasure, even where it confines itself to innocent modes of gratification, is an insinuating and mischievous passion. It may sow the seeds of indolence, create a distaste for the serious business of life, and so make a mans course profitless both to himself and to others. We may see this in the history of nations. A pleasure-loving has never been a noble and manly people. When the Athenians yielded to the fascinations of the theatre, and appropriated to its purposes the funds that had been designed for the defence of the State, they speedily forgot their ancient love of freedom; the glories of Marathon and Salamis were shadowed by the disaster of Choeroneia, and the invincible antagonists of Xerxes became the fawning slaves of Philip. Even the Romans, who had conquered the world, and had for ages boasted of their independence, were content to wear their chains, when their tyrants had learned the art of lulling them to sleep by the Siren-like strains of pleasure, and the voices that had once been raised to rebuke their oppressors, were heard only to clamour for the bloody games of the circus. These are lessons to us both as individuals and as a nation. Changes in the moral character of both are for the most part accomplished noiselessly.

III. There are doubtful pleasures, as to which it becomes the Christian to exercise careful discrimination. To point out some considerations which may serve to guide the exercise of this high Christian expediency, is what we propose here.

1. Regard must be paid to the actual rather than to the possible character of any amusement, and each one must be judged by what it is not by what it might be.

2. Regard must be had to the tendencies of an amusement. We admit freely that this is a test to be applied with great caution. It is not a fair objection to any recreation to point to isolated cases, in which indulgence has been followed by serious moral and spiritual evil. It cannot be questioned that a pleasure, though not sinful in its character, may, in its general influence, be unfriendly to spiritual earnestness.

3. Each man must have regard to his own individual temperament. So varied are our mental habits and tendencies, that we may pass unscathed through scenes which would inflict on others permanent and wide-spread injury.

4. Still more must every man respect his own conscience, and not exercise a liberty wider than it approves.

5. We must, in deference to the opinions, feelings, and spiritual interests of others, sometimes exercise a self-denial which our own consciences do not feel to be requisite for our own safety. (J. G. Rogers, B. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luke

ONE SEED AND DIVERSE SOILS

SEED AMONG THORNS

Luk 8:14.

No sensible sower would cast his seed among growing thorn-bushes, and we must necessarily understand that the description in this verse is not meant to give us the picture of a field in which these were actually growing, but rather of one in which they had been grubbed up, and so preparation been made for the sowing of the seed. They had been grubbed up, but they had not been grubbed out. The roots were there, although the branches and the stems had been cut down, or if the roots were not there, abundant seeds were lying buried, and when the good seed was sown it went into ground full of them-and that was the blunder out of which all the mischief came.

I. These three different instances of failure in this parable represent to us, first, the seed carried off at the very beginning, before it has sunk into the ground and before it has had time to germinate.

It lies on the surface and it goes at once. But suppose it is safely piloted past that first danger, then comes another peril. It gets a little deeper into the ground, but there is a shelf of rock an inch or two below the skin of soil, and the poor little rootlets cannot get through that, and so when the hot Syrian sun shines down upon the field, there is an unnatural heat, and a swift vegetation. There is growth, but the same sun that at first stimulated the unnaturally rapid growth, gets a little hotter or continues to pour down during the fervid summer and dries up the premature vegetation which it had called into feeble life. That second seed went further on the road towards fruit.

But suppose a seed is piloted past that second risk, there comes this third one. This seed gets deeper still, and does take root, and does grow, and does bear fruit. That is to say, this is a picture of a real Christian, in whom the seed of the kingdom, which is the word of God, has taken root, and to whom there has been the communication of the divine life that is in the seed; and yet that, too, comes to grief, and our parable tells us how-by three things, the thorns, the growth of the thorns, and the choking of the word.

Luke puts the interpretation of the thorns even more vividly than the other Evangelists, because he represents them as being three different forms of one thing, ‘cares and riches and pleasures,’ which all come into the one class, ‘of this life.’ Or, in other words, the present world, with all its various appeals to our animal and sensual nature, with all its possible delights for part of our being, a real and important part of it; and with all the troubles and anxieties which it is cowardly for us to shirk, and impossible for us to escape-this world is ever present to each of us, and if there is anything in us to which it appeals, then certainly the thorns will come up. The cares and the wealth and the pleasures are three classes of one thing. Perhaps the first chiefly besets struggling people; the second mainly threatens well-to-do people; the third, perhaps, is most formidable to leisurely and idle people. But all three appeal to us all, for in every one of us there are the necessary anxieties of life, and every one of us knows that there is real and substantial good to a part of our being, in the possession of a share of this world’s wealth, without which no man can live, and all of us carry natures to which the delights of sense do legitimately and necessarily appeal.

So the soil for the growth of the thorns is always in us all. But what then? Are these things so powerful in our hearts as that they become hindrances to our Christian life? That is the question. The cares and the occupation of mind with, and desire for, the wealth and the pleasures are of God’s appointment. He did not make them thorns, but you and I make them thorns; and the question for us is, has our Christianity driven out the undue regard to this life, regarded in these three aspects-undue in measure or in any other respect, by which they are converted into hindrances that mar our Christian life? Dear brethren, it is not enough to say, ‘I have received the word into my heart.’ There is another question besides that-Has the word received into your heart cast out the thorns? Or are they and the seed growing there side by side? The picture of my text is that of a man who, in a real fashion, has accepted the Gospel, but who has accepted it so superficially as that it has not exercised upon him the effect that it ought to produce, of expelling from him the tendencies which may become hindrances to his Christian life. If we have known nothing of ‘the expulsive power of a new affection,’ and if we thought it was enough to cut down the thickest and tallest thorn-bushes, and to leave all the seeds and the roots of them in our hearts, no wonder if, as we get along in life, they grow up and choke the word. ‘Ye cannot serve God and Mammon’; that is just putting into a sentence the lesson of my text.

II. Further, note the growth of the thorns. Luke employs a very significant phrase.

He says, ‘When they have heard they go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life.’ That is to say, the path of daily life upon which we all have to walk, the common duties which necessarily draw us to themselves, will certainly stimulate the growth of the thorns if these are not rooted out. Life is full of appeals to our desires after earthly good or pleasure, to our greed after earthly gain, to our dread of earthly sorrow, of pain, of loss, and of poverty. As surely as we are living, and have to go out into the world day by day, so surely will the thorns grow if they are left in us. And so we come back to the old lesson that because we are set in this world, with all its temptations that appeal so strongly to many needs and desires of our nature, we must make thorough work of our religion if it is to be of any good to us at all, and we are not to go on the Christian pilgrimage with one foot upon the higher level and the other upon the lower, like a man walking with one foot on the kerbstone and the other on the roadway. Let us be one thing or the other, out and out, thorough and consistent. If we have the seed in our hearts, remember that we are responsible for its growth.

Let us make certain that we have cast out the thorns. There is an old German proverb, the vulgarity of which may be excused for its point. ‘You must not sit near the fire if your head is made of butter.’ We should not try to walk through this wicked world without making very certain that we have stubbed the thorns out of our hearts. Oh, dear friends! here is the secret to the miserable inconsistencies of the great bulk of professing Christians. They have got the seed in, but they have not got the thorns out.

III. Lastly, mark the choking of the growth.

Of course it is rapid, according to the old saying, ‘Ill weeds grow apace.’ ‘They are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection.’ The weeds grow faster than the seed. ‘Possession is nine-tenths of the law,’ and they have got possession of the soil, and their roots go far and strike deep, and so they come up, with their great, strong, coarse, quick-growing stems and leaves, and surround the green, infant, slender shoot, and keep the air and light out from it, and exhaust all the goodness of the soil, which has not nutriment in it enough for the modest seed and for the self-asserting thorn. And so the thorn beats in the race, and grows inches whilst the other grows hairbreadths. Is not that a true statement of our experience? If Christian men and women permit as much of their interest and affection and effort and occupation of mind to go out towards the world and worldly things, as, alas! most of us do, no wonder if the tiny, yellow, rather than green, blade is choked and gets covered with parasitical disease, and perhaps dies at last. You cannot grow two crops on one field. Some of us have tried; it will never do. It must be one thing or another, and we must make up our minds whether we are going to cultivate corn or thorn. May God help us to make the right choice of the crop we desire to bear!

Our text tells us that this man, represented by the seed among thorns, was a Christian, did, and does, bear fruit, but, as Luke says, ‘brings no fruit to perfection.’ The first seed never grew at all; the second got the length of putting forth a blade; this one has got as far as the ear, but not so far as ‘the full corn in the ear.’ It has fruited, but the fruit is green and scanty, not ripened, as it ought to be, since it grows under such a sky and was taken out of such a seed-basket as our seed has come from. It brings forth no fruit to perfection’;-is not that a picture of so many Christian people? One cannot say that they are not Christians. One cannot say that there are no signs of a divine life in them. One cannot say but that they do a good many things that are right and pure, and obviously the result of a Divine Spirit working upon them; but all that they do just falls short of the crowning grace and beauty. There is always something about it that strikes one as being incomplete. They are Christian men and Christian women bringing forth many of the fruits of the Christian life, but the climax somehow or other is always absent. The pyramid goes up many stages, but there is never the gilded summit flashing in the light-’No fruit to perfection.’

Dear brethren, let us take our poor, imperfect services, and lay them down at the Master’s feet, and ask Him to help us to make clean work of these hearts of ours, and to turn out of them all our worldly hankerings after the seen and temporal. Then we shall bear fruit that He will gather into His garner. The cares and the pleasures and the wealth that terminate in, and are occupied with, this poor fleeting present are small and insignificant. Let us try to yield ourselves up wholly to the higher influences of that Divine Spirit, and in true consecration receive the engrafted word. And then He will give to us to drink of that river of His pleasures, drinking of which we shall not thirst, nor need to come to any of earth’s fountains to draw. If the Saviour comes in in His power, He will cast out the uncleanness that dwells in us and make us fruitful as He would have us to be.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 8:14. Καὶ πλούτου) Repeat ὑπὸ; comparing Mar 4:19, [where the cares of this world are made distinct from the deceitfulness of riches: showing that πλούτου here is governed, not by μεριμνῶν, but by ὑπό.] Construe the words with συμπνίγονται, they are choked.—πορευόμενοι, setting out, going their way) without any rapid and manifest apostasy (falling away), nay, even with some degree of progress. For this is the force of the verb ילך πορεύομαι. The increments in good and evil go on simultaneously, not only in the case of men collectively, Mat 13:30, but also in the case of individuals.—οὐ τελεσφοροῦσι) they do not hear the fruit perfected and ripened, viz. faith itself, in such a way as that they should attain the τέλος, or “end of faith, the salvation of their souls:” Luk 8:12: comp. 1Pe 1:9. Plutarch, τελεσφόρα δένδρα.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 8:14 . τὸ δὲ . There is a change here from the plural masculine to the neuter singular: from “those who” to “that which”. πορευόμενοι : the use of this word, which seems superfluous (Grotius), is probably due to Lk. having under his eye Mk.’s account, in which εἰσπορευόμεναι comes in at this point. Kypke renders: “illi a curis ( ὑπὸ μεριμνῶν καὶ π . καὶ ἡ . τ . β .) occupati sive penetrate” = they being taken possession of by, etc., the passive form of Mk.’s “cares, etc., entering in and taking possession”. This seems as good an explanation as can be thought of. Bornemann takes ὑπὸ = μετά or σύν , and renders, they go or live amid cares, etc., and are checked. οὐ τελεσφοροῦσι , they do not bring to maturity (here only in N. T.). Examples of this use in Wetstein and Kypke from Strabo, Philo, Josephus, etc. Hesychius explains τελεσφόρος thus: ὁ τελεσφορῶν καθʼ ὥραν τοὺς καρποὺς , ἢ ὁ τελείους αὐτοὺς φέρων .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They bring not forth perfect and full fruit to the ripening: or, they begin, but they bring not to an end.

That is, so soon as they have heard the word, they go about their business.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(14) Cares and riches and pleasures of this life.—Better, simply, of life, St. Luke’s word (bios) being different from that in the other two Gospels (œon, a time, or period—and so used for “the world”). The insertion of “pleasures” is peculiar to St. Luke, as is also the specific “bring no fruit to perfection “instead of “becometh unfruitful.” The one Greek word which St. Luke uses, and for which the English version substitutes five, occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and belonging, as it does, to the vocabulary of a more polished literature, is characteristic of his general culture.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. that which fell among thorns are they] Here the grand paradox which identifies the seed with its recipient is very marked. See especially Matthew 13, where “he that received the seed by the way side, &c.” should be “he that was sown by the way side, &c.” The class here described are worldly, ambitious, preoccupied, luxurious listeners who feel the “expulsive power” of earthly careers and pleasures crowding out the growth of the good seed. The former class was more superficially touched; this class have not “broken up their fallow ground,” and therefore “sow among thorns.”

cares] Catullus talks of ‘sowing thorny cares in the heart.’

riches] “the deceitfulness of riches” (Matt.. Mk.).

bring no fruit to perfection] Literally, “do not perfect” (anything).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But that on the good ground are they,.... The seed that fell on good ground design such hearers,

which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it: who hear with an honest and good intention, and faithfully keep it, and hold it fast:

and bring forth fruit with patience; with great constancy, suffering much for the sake of it; and the more they suffer, the more fruitful they are. See this explanation of the parable more largely insisted on in the following notes. See Gill on Mat 13:19, Mat 13:20, Mat 13:21, Mat 13:22, Mat 13:23

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

Ver. 14. Go forth, &c.] viz. About their worldly businesses; which, as the lean kine in Pharaoh’s dream, devour the fat, and it is nothing seen by them. After awhile they remember no more than the man in the moon doth, what they had heard delivered.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sense of the Greek text is: they produce no fruit that arrives at maturity. (Bible de Vence)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. There is something very sad in this, the thorn-choked class of believers. Each of them represents the vie manquee; the beautiful flower just spoiled as it was bursting into full bloom. These hear the Word, and, hearing it, grasp its deep solemn meaning, and for a part of each day honestly try to live the life which that Divine Word pressed home to them. But with these there is another life; side by side with the golden grain has grown up a crop of thorns, which, unless destroyed in time, will choke and utterly mar, as, alas, it often does, the true corn. Such men and women, the double-minded ones of St. James, try to serve two masters God and the world. Dr. Morrison has a good note on the parallel passage in St. Mark, where, after suggesting that the cares, the riches, and the pleasures of this life in our time are such things as houses, land, works of art and virtu, posts of honour, gaiety of garments, grandeur of entertainments, and in general the myriad appliances of luxury, he goes on to say, "These come more or less in upon all men, but some men lay themselves peculiarly open to their influence, and allow them to twine and twist themselves like the serpents of Laocoon around every energy and susceptibility of their being." The rich young ruler whom Jesus loved is a fair instance of this not uncommon character, which perhaps is more often met with among the more cultured of society than among the poor and the artisan class. There must have been much that was really beautiful and true in that young man, or Jesus never had singled him out as one whom he especially loved, and yet in his case the thorns of riches and luxury had so twined themselves among the real corn that, as far as we know, it never brought fruit to perfection. Ananias and Sapphira may, too, be instanced. They had given up much for the Name"s sake, associated themselves with a hated and persecuted sect, sacrificed a large portion of their property to help the poor of the flock, and yet these apparently devoted ones were living a double life; the thorns had so grown up and twined about the corn that in their field nothing ever ripened.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The seeds that fell among the thorns are people

"The seeds that fell among the thorns represent people" or "In the parable the seeds that fell among the thorns represent people" (See: Metonymy)

they are choked ... pleasures of this life

This can be stated in active form. AT: "the cares and riches and pleasures of this life choke them" (See: Active or Passive)

cares

things that people worry about

pleasures of this life

"the things in this life that people enjoy"

they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature

This metaphor refers to the way weeds cut off light and nutrients from plants and keep them from growing. AT: "as weeds prevent good plants from growing, the cares, riches, and pleasures of this life keep these people from becoming mature" (See: Metaphor)

their fruit does not mature

"they do not bear ripe fruit." Mature fruit is a metaphor for good works. AT: "so like a plant that does not produce mature fruit, they do not produce good works" (See: Metaphor)

the seed that fell on the good soil, these are the ones

"the seed that fell on the good soil represents the people" or "in the parable the seed that fell on the good soil represents the people" (See: Metonymy)

hearing the word

"hearing the message"

with an honest and good heart

Here "heart" is a metonym for a person's thoughts or intentions. AT: "with an honest and good desire" (See: Metonymy)

bear fruit with patient endurance

"produce fruit by enduring patiently" or "produce fruit by continued effort." Fruit is a metaphor for good works. AT: "like healthy plants that produce good fruit, they produce good works by persevering" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

word

heart

persevere

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

14. τὸ δὲ εἰς τὰς ἀκάνθας πεσόν. Here the grand paradox which identifies the seed with its recipient is very marked. See especially Mat 13:19, where “he that received the seed by the way-side, &c.” should be ‘he that was sown by the way-side, &c.’ The class here described are worldly, ambitious, preoccupied, luxurious listeners who feel the “expulsive power” of earthly careers and pleasures crowding out the growth of the good seed. The former class was more superficially touched; this class have not “broken up their fallow ground,” and therefore “sow among thorns.”

μεριμνῶν. Catullus talks of ‘sowing thorny cares in the heart.’

πλούτου. “The deceitfulness of riches” (Matt., Mk.).

πορευόμενοι συνπνίγονται. This seems to be intentionally altered from the expression used by St Mark, αἱ μέριμναι … εἰσπορευόμεναι συμπνίγουσι.

οὐ τελεσφοροῦσιν. Literally, ‘do not perfect’ (anything).

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14.] ὑπό must not be taken (Meyer) as belonging to πορευόμενοι (ὑπὸ μερ. ἀντὶ τοῦ μετὰ μερ., ), for no such usage of the preposition is found in the N.T., and the sense would be tame and frigid in the extreme; but ὑπό belongs to συνπνίγονται, and πορευόμενοι (which Meyer contends would have no meaning in this case) is in its ordinary sense of going their way, namely, after having heard the word: see for this usage of πορεύομαι Mat 2:8; 9:13; 11:4 . (but not Mark, except 16:10 ff., where see note), and Luk 7:22; Luk 9:13 al. freq. It is surprising that such a critic as Meyer should have upheld so absurd an interpretation as that impugned above.

τοῦ βίου belongs to all three substantives.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. τὸ δὲ εἰς τὰς ἀκάθας πεσόν. It is not probable that this is an acc. abs.: “Now as regards that which fell among me thorns.” The attraction of οὖτοι (for τοῦτο) to οἰ ἀκούσαντες is quite intelligible.

ὑ πὸ μεριμνῶν καὶ πλούτου καὶ ἡδονῶ βίου. It is usual to take this after συμπνίγονται; and this is probably correct: yet Weiss would follow Luther and others and join it with πορευόμενοι, “going on their way under the influence of cares,” etc. But ver. 7 is against this : the cares, etc., are the thorns, and it is the thorns choke. This does not reduce πορευόμενοι to a gehaltloser Zusatz. The choking is not a sudden process, like the trampling and devouring; nor a rapid process, like the withering: it takes time. It is as they go on their way through life, and before they have reached the goal, that the choking of the good growth takes place. Therefore they never do reach the goal. The transfer of what is true of the growing seed to those in whose heart it is sown is not difficult; and συμπνιγονται is clearly passive, not middle and transitive. The thorns choke the seed (ver. 7); these hearers are choked by the cares, etc. (ver. 14). Here only in N.T. does τελεσφορεῖν occur. It is used of animals as well as of plants (4 Mac. 13:20; Psa 64:10, Sym.).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Go forth [πορευομενοι] . The present participle. Much better Rev., "they that have heard, and as they go on their way are choked," etc.

Choked with [υπο, υνδερ] . Implying the impulse under which they pursue their course.

Bring (no fruit) to perfection (telesforousin). Only here in New Testament. Matthew and Mark have, it becometh unfruitful. The verb literally means to bring to an end or accomplishment.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.