COMMENTS
The different measures of fruitage—the thirty, sixty and hundred-fold, or the ten pounds and the five, mark differences in obstacles to be overcome, etc., rather than unfaithfulness in the use of the means of grace. Some may work long and diligently for small results, while the same effort in others of more resolute will and of greater continuity may accomplish great things. Some by slips and occasional backslidings, from which they subsequently recover, lose time and opportunities which can never be regained, although they are forgiven and generously reinstated in the Divine favor, and thenceforth run with diligence and patience to the end.
The various kinds of soil represent the different classes of hearers. Good ground represents the faithful. The faithful are they who, understanding and meditating on the Word, diligently apply it to the sanctification of heart and mind; and in proportion to their zeal therein they bring forth fruit. Their final standing will depend on their zeal in this respect.
Gen. 26:12; Isa. 55:10, 11; Matt. 13:3-8, 18-23; 25:20-23; John 12:24; 15:5, 8, 16; 1 Pet. 1:23; Rom. 6:22; Gal. 5:22, 23; Phil. 1:11; 4:17; Col. 1:6; Heb. 12:11; Jas. 3:18.
