{"id":20672,"date":"2024-06-30T15:58:05","date_gmt":"2024-06-30T19:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/?p=20672"},"modified":"2024-06-30T15:58:05","modified_gmt":"2024-06-30T19:58:05","slug":"matthew-1331-32-mustard-seed-mistake-or-misunderstanding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/matthew-1331-32-mustard-seed-mistake-or-misunderstanding\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 13:31-32 – Mustard Seed Mistake or Misunderstanding?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Problem:<\/strong> In Matthew 13:31-32, the apostle recorded a brief parable that Jesus taught regarding His heavenly kingdom. \u201cThe kingdom of heaven,\u201d Jesus said, \u201cis like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.\u201d The central truth of Jesus\u2019 lesson was that the kingdom of heaven (i.e., the church; Matthew 16:18-19; Colossians 1:13), would be very small in the beginning (Acts 2), but in time would become very large. Rather than be a movement that died with its leader (cf. Acts 5:33-39), history shows that Jesus was exactly right in His prophecy: since His death and resurrection 2,000 years ago, multiplied millions of people have become citizens of this heavenly kingdom of which Jesus foretold.
\n
\nSolution:<\/strong> Rather than acknowledge Jesus\u2019 impressively fulfilled prophecy, His critics allege that He blundered in His reference to the mustard seed being \u201cthe least of all the seeds\u201d (or as Mark words it, \u201csmaller than all the seeds on earth\u201d\u20144:31). Since other plant seeds technically are smaller than mustard seeds (e.g., epiphytic orchid seeds found in tropical rainforests), critics claim that Jesus made a scientific mistake (Wells, 2011; McKinsey, 2000, p. 263).<\/p>\n

Although the Bible has shown itself to be historically and scientifically accurate time and again over the last 2,000 years (see Butt, 2007), the reader must bear in mind that, just as we often do in modern times, Jesus and the Bible writers frequently used figures of speech. They sometimes used numbers as names instead of literal numbers (e.g., calling the apostles \u201cthe twelve\u201d after Judas had died\u20141 Corinthians 15:5; see Lyons, 2002). They oftentimes referred to things as they appeared instead of as they actually were (e.g., Christians who had died were said to have \u201cfallen asleep\u201d\u20141 Corinthians 15:6). They used Hebrew idioms, even when writing in the Greek language (e.g., \u201cthree days and three nights\u201d\u2014Matthew 12:40; see Lyons, 2004). And, just as we communicate truths in the 21st century through easily interpreted exaggeration (e.g., \u201cI\u2019m so hungry I could eat a horse\u201d), Jesus and the Bible writers also made use of hyperbolic expressions. For example, when Paul noted in his letter to the church in Colosse that the Gospel \u201cwas preached to every creature under heaven\u201d (1:23), readers understand that Paul is not technically saying that every living thing on Earth heard the Gospel. He\u2019s not even saying that every person, including every infant, invalid, and mentally-ill person, heard the Gospel. Paul was obviously using a figure of speech to communicate an astounding truth: the then-known world (of both Jews and Gentiles) had been exposed to the Good News of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

So what about Jesus\u2019 comment regarding the mustard seed being \u201cthe least of all the seeds\u201d (Matthew 13:32)? Was Jesus scientifically inaccurate? Only in the same sense that people are today when they refer to it \u201craining cats and dogs\u201d during heavy precipitation, or \u201cburning up\u201d during a heat wave. The fact is, Jesus was speaking proverbially in this parable. In Palestine, mustard seeds were used comparatively when talking of very small things. For example, when Jesus taught about how the smallest amount of faith could bring about great results, He referred to this \u201cfaith as a mustard seed\u201d (Matthew 17:20). Since the Jews were very familiar with the mustard seed, Jesus referred to what they could understand and appreciate. In their world, where they lived, planted, and harvested, they understood that the mustard seed was the smallest of the seeds they normally planted. And still, it could germinate, take root, and flourish, eventually becoming an 8- to 10-foot tall shrub (Lane, 1974, p. 171).<\/p>\n

Similar to how we might say to someone, \u201ceveryone knows that two plus two is four,\u201d Jesus told His Palestinian peers that the mustard seed is \u201cthe least of all the seeds.\u201d Do most people on Earth likely know that two plus two is four? Yes. But millions of infants are ignorant of this mathematical fact, as are many mentally-ill individuals. Thus, the term \u201ceveryone\u201d would be used in a limited sense. Likewise, when Jesus spoke of the mustard seed, He was speaking hyperbolically in a limited sense. The mustard seed \u201cwas the smallest usually sown in Jewish fields\u201d (McGarvey, 1875, p. 121, emp. added).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Problem: In Matthew 13:31-32, the apostle recorded a brief parable that Jesus taught regarding His heavenly kingdom. \u201cThe kingdom of heaven,\u201d Jesus said, \u201cis like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater thanContinue reading →<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22,8,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-errors","category-bible-study","category-bible-teaching","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pathway2truth.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}