The Text: Matthew 13:10-17
The disciples ask Jesus a simple question: "Why do you speak to them in parables?" (v. 10). His answer is one of the most startling statements in the Gospels.
"To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand."
— Matthew 13:11-13
Read that again slowly. Jesus does not say "I use parables to make things clear." He says "I use parables BECAUSE they don't see, don't hear, don't understand." The parables are not teaching aids for the confused. They are instruments of judicial concealment for those to whom understanding has not been given.
Then Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9-10 — the most disturbing commission in the Old Testament:
"Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: 'You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.'"
— Matthew 13:14-15, quoting Isaiah 6:9-10
The logic is devastating: understanding is not given to everyone. It is given to the disciples. It is withheld from the crowds. And this is not an accident — it fulfills a prophecy. God told Isaiah, seven centuries earlier, that he would make hearts dull and eyes blind so that people would not understand, not turn, and not be healed.
Then Jesus turns to the disciples with tenderness:
"But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."
— Matthew 13:16-17
The disciples' eyes are blessed — not because they're smarter, not because they tried harder, but because something was given to them that was not given to others. This is grace discriminating. This is election in the ministry of Jesus himself.
Greek Word Studies
δέδοται (dedotai)
"it has been given" — perfect passive indicative
The verb is passive — the disciples didn't seize understanding; it was given to them. And perfect tense — a completed action with ongoing results. The giving was decisive and permanent. The divine passive (passivum divinum) indicates God is the unstated agent: God gave them understanding, and the giving stands.
μυστήρια (mystēria)
"mysteries, secrets"
The "secrets of the kingdom" are not puzzles to be solved by effort. In biblical usage, a mystērion is a truth that can only be known by divine revelation — never by human investigation (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:7-10). You cannot discover these truths. They must be disclosed to you. And Jesus says the disclosure is selective.
ἐπαχύνθη (epachynthē)
"has become thick, dull, fat"
From Isaiah 6:10 via the LXX. The heart of the people has become "fat" — insensitive, calloused, impenetrable. This is not neutral ignorance. It is a hardening — a thickening of the spiritual arteries that prevents the truth from reaching the center of the person. The same condition Paul describes in Romans 1:21: "their foolish hearts were darkened."
ἐκάμμυσαν (ekammysan)
"they have closed [their eyes]"
In Matthew's quotation, the people close their own eyes — human responsibility. But in Isaiah's original commission, God commands the prophet to "make the heart of this people dull" (Isaiah 6:10, Hebrew: hashmen). Both are true simultaneously. The people close their eyes, AND God ordained the blindness. This is compatibilism embedded in the words of Jesus.
μήποτε (mēpote)
"lest, so that... not"
This is the hinge word. Their eyes are closed and ears are shut mēpote — "lest they should see... and understand... and turn, and I would heal them." The purpose of the concealment is to prevent repentance. This is not God trying and failing to reach people. It is God deliberately withholding understanding so that certain ones do not turn. The word expresses divine purpose, not divine frustration.
μακάριοι (makarioi)
"blessed, fortunate, divinely favored"
Jesus pronounces the disciples "blessed" — not for what they've done, but for what they've been given. This is the same word used in the Beatitudes. It describes a state of divine favor that precedes human response. Their eyes see because God opened them. They are blessed because they are chosen.
Seven Arguments for Divine Selectivity
Argument 01
Understanding Is "Given" — Not Achieved
Jesus says understanding "has been given" (δέδοται) to the disciples. The passive voice means they received it. They didn't earn it, discover it, or cooperate to produce it. It was a gift — given to some, not given to others. This is the grammar of election applied to knowledge itself. The same God who chose the disciples for salvation chose them for understanding. The two cannot be separated.
Argument 02
Concealment Is the Stated Purpose of Parables
Jesus does not say "I teach in parables to help people understand." He says the opposite: "I speak to them in parables BECAUSE seeing they do not see" (13:13). Mark's parallel is even more explicit: "so that they may indeed see but not perceive... lest they should turn and be forgiven" (Mark 4:12). The parables function as a veil — transparent to those with Spirit-given eyes, opaque to those without.
Argument 03
Isaiah 6 Was a Commission to Conceal
Jesus roots his parable-method in Isaiah's commission: "Go and say to this people: 'Keep on hearing, but do not understand'" (Isaiah 6:9). This was God's command to the prophet. Make the heart dull. Make the ears heavy. Shut the eyes. Why? "Lest they see... and turn, and be healed." God commissioned a prophet to prevent repentance. This is the strongest Old Testament evidence for God's sovereign control over spiritual blindness — and Jesus endorses it.
Argument 04
The "Have/Have Not" Principle (The Matthew Principle)
"To the one who has, more will be given... but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away" (13:12). What does the disciple "have"? Not intelligence. Not merit. He has a regenerate heart — given by God. And to that regenerate heart, more understanding flows. The unregenerate heart receives less and less until even the appearance of understanding disappears. Grace compounds. Depravity compounds. Both trajectories begin with what God gives — or withholds.
Argument 05
This Pattern Repeats Throughout Scripture
Matthew 13 is not an isolated text. Jesus says: "No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matthew 11:27). Paul writes: "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God... he is not able to understand them" (1 Corinthians 2:14). God tells Moses: "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy" (Exodus 33:19). The selectivity of revelation is not a quirk of Matthew 13. It is a principle woven through the entire Bible.
Argument 06
The Disciples Aren't Better — They're Blessed
Jesus doesn't say "blessed are you because you're smart" or "blessed are you because you listened carefully." He says blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear (13:16). Sight and hearing are faculties — given by Another. The blessing is in the gift, not the recipient. Prophets and righteous people longed for this and didn't get it (13:17). Not because they were unworthy, but because it wasn't given to them in their generation. The timing and the giving belong to God alone.
Argument 07
Jesus Privately Explains to the Elect
After the public parable, Jesus takes the disciples aside and explains the meaning privately (13:18-23, 36-43). Mark makes the pattern explicit: "He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything" (Mark 4:34). The crowds get the encrypted message. The chosen get the key. This is not elitism — it is election. God reveals truth to whom he wills, and the human teacher cannot override the divine decision.
The Arminian Counter — and Why It Falls
The standard response is: "God didn't blind them — they blinded themselves. Matthew 13:15 says 'THEIR eyes THEY have closed.' The blindness is self-inflicted, not God-imposed."
This is a fair observation — Matthew's version does emphasize human agency. But it fails to account for three things:
First, the Isaiah source text uses the causative: "Make the heart of this people dull, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes" (Isaiah 6:10, Hebrew hiphil imperatives). God commands the blinding. Matthew quotes the result (they have closed their eyes); Isaiah records the cause (God commanded the closing). Both are true. Human agency operates within divine sovereignty — this is compatibilism.
Second, even in Matthew's version, the understanding is "not given" (v. 11). The passive voice attributes the withholding to God. You cannot escape the divine initiative by focusing on the human response. The reason they close their eyes is that understanding was not given to them. The closed eyes are the result of the withholding, not its cause.
Third, John's Gospel quotes the same Isaiah passage and makes the point inescapable: "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them" (John 12:40). Notice: "HE has blinded... HE has hardened." John doesn't preserve any ambiguity. God did it.
The Real Question
The question isn't "did people close their own eyes?" (yes, they did). The question is: "Why did the disciples' eyes open when the crowd's eyes stayed shut?" If the answer is "the disciples chose better," then the blessing belongs to them, not to God. But Jesus says the opposite: "Blessed are your eyes" — the blessing is a gift. Something external to them made the difference. And that something is the sovereign giving of God.
Historical Witnesses
"Christ does not assign the reason why He speaks to His disciples clearly and without parables — it is because to them it is given. Whence it is given, we must inquire. By Him, surely, of whom it is written: 'Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.'"
— Augustine, On the Predestination of the Saints, Ch. 8
"The Lord, therefore, reveals the mysteries of his kingdom to those only who are chosen for the purpose. He did not choose them because they were worthy; rather, he bestowed his grace upon them that they might become worthy."
— John Calvin, Commentary on Matthew 13:11
"Our Lord's words here are an unmistakable assertion of the sovereignty of God in the distribution of spiritual privileges. 'To you it is given.' This is grace. 'To them it is not given.' This is justice. Both proceed from the same hand."
— J.C. Ryle (1816–1900), Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
"Even the teaching of Jesus, the most powerful teacher who ever lived, does not penetrate the resistant heart. This means that no preacher, no evangelist, no matter how gifted, can bring anyone to faith. The work of regeneration is God's alone."
— R.C. Sproul, Chosen by God
"Some hearers have not the Holy Spirit's grace. The same sun which melts the wax hardens the clay; and the same gospel which melts some persons to repentance hardens others in their sins. The same fire which purifies gold consumes wood. We account for this by the doctrine of the Spirit's sovereign agency."
— Charles Spurgeon, Sermon No. 1890: "The Parable of the Sower" (1886)
"The reason why the greater part of mankind have not been savingly illuminated is not that God has not been able to give them light, but that in the sovereignty of his will he has been pleased to withhold it."
— Jonathan Edwards, Freedom of the Will (1754)
Objections Answered
Parables use everyday images — farming, fishing, bread. They're designed to help ordinary people understand spiritual truth.
The disciples themselves didn't understand the parables and had to ask for explanations (Matthew 13:36). If even the chosen insiders didn't automatically understand, how much less the outsiders? Jesus explicitly says the purpose is dual: reveal to some, conceal from others (v. 11). The earthy imagery makes the parable memorable, not transparent. A parable without the Spirit's illumination is a story about seeds, not a revelation about the kingdom.
A God who conceals truth from some people contradicts His desire for all to be saved.
Jesus is the one who says "to them it has
not been given." Jesus quotes Isaiah 6 approvingly — a text where God commands concealment to prevent repentance. If your theology says God would never do this, but Jesus says God does do this, then your theology needs to yield to Jesus. The solution to 1 Timothy 2:4 is to understand "all" in context — all
kinds of people (kings, rulers, etc.), not every individual without exception. See our
full treatment of 1 Timothy 2:4.
If God withholds understanding, how can He hold people accountable for not understanding?
"You will say to me then, 'Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?'" (
Romans 9:19). Paul's answer is not an apologetic retreat — it is a thunderclap: "Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, 'Why have you made me like this?'" (9:20). The creature does not have standing to accuse the Creator of injustice. Furthermore: no one
deserves understanding. It is grace that reveals, not a right that's withheld. If God gave everyone what they
deserve, no one would see anything at all.
The blindness was specific to the Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus. It doesn't apply broadly.
Paul applies the same pattern to all unregenerate people: "The god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers" (2 Corinthians 4:4). "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Jesus himself generalizes: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44). The mechanism Jesus describes in Matthew 13 — divine giving and divine withholding — is not a historical curiosity. It is how salvation works for every human being in every era.
If people can't understand without God's gift, what's the point of preaching?
"Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). The preached Word is not pointless — it is the instrument through which God gives understanding to those he has chosen. The seed falls on all four soils (Matthew 13:3-8). The sower doesn't choose which soil receives the seed. But the God who prepared the soil determines which hearts will bear fruit. Preaching casts the net. God determines the catch.
The Verdict
Matthew 13:10-17 is one of the clearest statements of divine selectivity in all of Scripture — and it comes from the lips of Jesus himself. Not Paul. Not an Old Testament prophet. Jesus.
Imagine a radio tower broadcasting a signal across an entire city. The signal is everywhere — in every apartment, every office, every jail cell. But only those with a working receiver can hear the music. The signal doesn't discriminate. But the ability to receive it does. Now imagine God is the one who builds the receivers — and He doesn't build one for everyone. That is Matthew 13. The parables are broadcast to the whole crowd. But the receiver — the "given" understanding of verse 11 — is installed only in those the Father has chosen.
He says, in his own words, that understanding the kingdom is a gift given to some and withheld from others. He says the parables function as instruments of both revelation and concealment. He quotes Isaiah 6 — where God commands a prophet to make hearts dull — and applies it to his own ministry.
This passage demolishes three common assumptions:
That God always wants everyone to understand. Jesus explicitly says understanding is "not given" to the crowds. If God wanted them to understand, he would have given them understanding. He didn't.
That spiritual blindness is purely self-caused. The people close their eyes (Matthew 13:15), yes — but God commanded the closing (Isaiah 6:10), and John confirms God is the agent (John 12:40). Both divine sovereignty and human responsibility are in play.
That the difference between believers and unbelievers is human choice. Jesus says the difference is that to the disciples "it has been given." The divine passive leaves no room for human boasting. The disciples see because God gave them sight. Period.
"For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?"
— 1 Corinthians 4:7
How This Changes Everything
If you understand the gospel, thank God — not yourself. Your comprehension of grace is itself grace. You didn't figure it out. You didn't have better eyes. God opened them. The proper response to understanding is not pride but gratitude: "Blessed are your eyes, for they see." Every moment of spiritual insight is a gift from the God who gives to some what he withholds from others.
If someone you love doesn't understand, keep praying — and stop blaming yourself. You can present the most articulate, compelling case for the gospel, and it will bounce off an unregenerate heart like rain off stone. This is not your failure. It is the condition Jesus describes in Matthew 13. The encouragement? The same God who can withhold understanding can also give it. Pray for the giving. "Lord, open their eyes" is the most Reformed prayer you can pray — because it acknowledges that only God can do it.
If this passage bothers you, good. It should. A God who selectively reveals truth is not the domesticated deity of popular religion. He is the God of Isaiah 6, who told a prophet to blind the nation. He is the God of Romans 9, who hardens whom he wills. He is the God of John 12:40, who blinded eyes and hardened hearts. This God is not safe. But he is good. And the evidence that he is good is that you can see. The very fact that this truth is landing in your mind right now is proof that you are among the blessed. He gave you eyes. Use them for worship.
"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
— 2 Corinthians 4:6