The Parable of the 4 Soils
“But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the Word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.”
I've heard several more seeker-driven preachers explain that the four soils, or the parable of the sower, are the four stages of the Christian life. They'll say something like this:
Some of you are in a season where the blessings of God keep falling on you like seeds, but the devil keeps snatching them away like the birds on the hard path. Don't worry, this season of barrenness is just a setup for your season of blessing. Some of you, you're growing, but there are rocks in your life and you keep hitting them over and over and over. Your breakthrough is coming. Those rocks will be moved and you're going to be blessed. Some of you are leaders in this church and you're in temptation and sin, and it's choking you out, but you just need to untangle those thorny weeds and keep on growing. Some of you have been faithful in all those stages, and now you are bearing fruit in maturity. You've endured the burdens and now you get the blessings. You know what it is to find purpose in the pain and now it's your time to prosper.
Maybe you've heard that kind of teaching on the four soils. That approach lessens the harshness of Christ's words in the parable, so let's just let Scripture speak and submit to it, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us feel. We're going to dive into the meaning of this parable and why it's so important to get it correct.
First, the seed in the parable of the sower is the Word of God. Jesus says clearly in Luke 8:11, “Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God." This helps us understand the seed is not a material blessing from God but in the context of this parable, the gospel, and the good news about the kingdom of God. No matter where the sower sows it or the kind of soil it falls upon, the seed is unchanging. This is how we ought to view the Word of God and the seed of the gospel.
The other key piece to this parable is the soil, which represents the human heart. Each one is described as being sowed upon with the seed of the Word. But each one represents a different response, just like human hearts. Jesus uses very clear language to describe each heart, and only one ends up producing a harvest.
The soil on the side of the road represents a hard heart. In Luke 8:12, Jesus says, "Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the Word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved." Tragically, the side road soil represents a heart that has not been penetrated by the Word of God. These people are not saved. And like 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, "The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
The rocky soil represents a shallow heart and those on the rocky soil are those who when they hear, receive the Word with joy, but sadly they have no firm root. They believe for a while and then in times of temptation, they fall away. The word used there for temptation is the Greek word parasmos, and it refers to trials and testing. This heart is the person who loves Jesus when life is going well and He makes everything great. They love the church because the music is upbeat and cool, the message is motivational, and the speech would never offend anyone. There are community events and good vibes to be had all around. But when the hard truth hits home and the winds of trials come they think, "Well, that's not the God I signed up for. I'm out." Sadly, many professing believers in American Christianity are the rocky soil.
The thorny soil is the distracted heart. They grow for a while and appear to be all in, but Jesus says they're the ones who have heard and as they go on their way they're choked with the worries and the riches and pleasures in this life. They bring no fruit to maturity. These human hearts just can't get past the cares of this world. I think of Luke 18 and the rich young ruler who couldn't give up his life to follow Christ. These are those who count the cost to take up their cross and think, "Well, that's just too much to ask."
Finally, the good soil is the genuine heart. This is the person who is a true follower of Christ. Jesus says, "These are the ones who have heard the Word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance." They aren't in it for the comforts of this life. The heart characterized by the good soil wants Jesus more than anything and ends up producing a harvest.
So why is it so important to get the meaning of this parable correct? Well, because Jesus is explaining the human heart will always have a response to the Word of God, and only the fourth soil is the kind of heart that will hear and be saved. Genuine fruit is the evidence of a genuine heart being saved by the gospel. If people think they can be hard soil, rocky soil, or thorny soil and simply be in a growth phase as a believer, then they've missed the entire point of Luke's gospel and the entire point of following Jesus. This gives people false assurance that they're saved, when in fact they need to repent and surrender their lives to Christ. In Luke's gospel, there are constant reminders that following Jesus is a narrow road. There are no half-in, half-out Christians. It's all in or nothing at all. In Luke 5:11, the disciples leave everything to follow Jesus. In Luke 6:5, He declares Himself Lord of the Sabbath. In Luke 7:7, the centurion says "Just say the word and my servant will be healed" because he recognized Christ's authority. In Luke 8:24, Jesus rebukes a storm and calms His own creation. In Luke 14:27, Jesus says, "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."
Luke's whole point and driving theme in the parable of the four soils is that if you're not the fourth soil, you're not good soil. If you don't count the cost, take up your cross, and follow Jesus, you cannot be His disciple. It's so clear - turn from sin, quit playing church. Be done with shallow Sunday experiences and fall to your knees in humility, asking Him to give you a soft heart that will receive the seed of the gospel and produce genuine fruit for the glory of His name.
