The Similar Sayings: Matthew 13:11 , Mark 4:11, & Luke 8:10
“Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them."
This article is part of a series on the Jesus verses that are similar, but not the same, in different Gospels. The list of articles in this series is here.
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Three more sayings and another question in our minds about whether Jesus said the line only once and it was recorded in three different ways, or whether he said something similar three different ways on similar different occasions. The general occasion was certainly repeated if Jesus repeated his parables to different group at different times. Whether or not we believe this specific occasion was repeated depends on how difficult sayings which seem commonplace to us now were to the apostles then.
The general context for this line is Jesus telling the Parable of the Sower, where the seeds fall on the path, rocky, thorny, and good ground to meet different fates. After this parable, the apostles ask three different questions in the three different gospels.
In Matthew, they ask the most general question: why does Jesus teach in parables? In Mark, they ask specifically about the Parable of the Sower. In Luke, they ask why this parable exists. Despite all of these questions being different, Jesus answers them in a similar way. He then repeats his explanation of the parable, again, in similar but slightly different ways.
Here are the NIV biblical translations of Jesus’s answers to the apostle’s different questions.
Matthew 13:11 NIV: Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
Mark 4:11 NIV: Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
Luke 6:3 NIV: To you, it has been given to learn the secrets of the realm of the Divine. To those remaining, however, in parables so that seeing they might not see; and hearing, they might not put it together.
These three versions all are made a little more alike in English translation than they were originally in the Greek. Here are my English versions that follow the original Greek more closely. Their differences from each other are in boldface.
Matthew: Because to you it has been given to learn the mysteries of the realm of the skies. To those there, however, it has not been given.
Mark: To you, the mysteries of the realm of the Divine has been given. To those there, however, the ones outside, this all takes place in comparisons.
Luke: To you, it has been given to learn the mysteries of the realm of the Divine. To those rest, however, in comparisons so that seeing they might not see; and hearing, they might not put it together.
The Emphasis
In Greek, the most important words are generally put at the beginning of the sentence. Notice that only the Matthew version begins with the word, “because.” The Greek word often introduces an answer to a question. The other two versions do away with this nicety. This shifts the emphasis from “because” to the “to you,” and emphasis on the importance of their role. In the following discussion in Mark, Jesus actually complains about them not yet knowing this parable (Mark 4:13), which makes it seem like he has already explained it to them once.
The next word in the Greek version in Matthew and Luke is the Greek verb translated as “it has been given.” This exact same verb appears in Mark, but it follows the Greek for “the mysteries” making these mysteries the subject of the sentence. In Matthew and Luke, “the mysteries” is clearly the object of the Greek verb meaning “learn to know,” but that verb doesn’t exist in the Mark version. To me, its absence in Mark indicates that they should have already learned this. Jesus only uses this Greek word for “mysteries” in these three verses.
The word translated as "mysteries" is a Greek word, adopted into English. The word means "mystery," "secret doctrine," "secret rite,” "secret revealed by God," "religious or mystical truth," and "superstition." It is used more in the New Testament (twenty-seven times) than in any other ancient Greek work, which indicates that Jesus was always the mystery.
The Realm
One obvious change from Matthew is the shift from “the realm of the skies” to “the realm of the Divine.” This is consistent with Jesus’s use of these terms. “Of the skies” appears almost exclusively in Matthew. Mark and Luke use the “of the Divine” or “of the Divinity” version, translated as “of God.”
The word “realm” can also be translated as “reign,” “kingship” or “sovereignty.” It doesn’t refer to the physical place as much as the extent of a ruler’s authority.
The word translated as “God,” also means “divine” and “deity.” It is a metaphor for all abstract things. The definite article “the” usually proceeds it. When it does, it refers to the Jewish supreme being rather than one of the many divine beings of the pagan religions.
The word “parables” is only mentioned in Mark and Luke. The primary meaning of this Greek word is “comparisons” and “illustrations.” This is why so many of Jesus’s parable begin describing what something “is like,” This is not the Greek word used to describe “instructive stories",” such as Aesop’s Fable. Our word “parable” is adopted from the Greek and later Latin Bible into English, but its meaning has been changed to the Jesus stories that Jesus told. This obscures the fact that he saw them as illustrations.
Other People
Each verse refers to other people, and each does so in a more distancing way. The word translated as “other people” in my Matthew version and “them” in the NIV is not the pronoun, “them,” but a demonstrative that means “that person there,” or, in the plural, “those people there.” In Mark, the same word is used, but it is explained by the words that follow, “those outside.” In Luke, the “those there” is drop, and replaced with “the rest,” where “rest” is a word that means “remaining,” which has a sense of being left behind.
The last part of Luke is a paraphrase of Isaiah 6:9, "Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not." It appears in Matthew and Mark, but as its own verse later in the conversation.
Looking at these verses and the rest of Jesus’s reaction and explanation, my interpretation is that he did have to explain this story three times. This may well have been true for all the stories that he had to explain, but those explanations are not recorded in the Bible.