Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 13:36-43

"Then he left the multitudes, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Explain unto us the parable of the tares of the field. And he answered and said, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; and the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil [one]; and the enemy that sowed them is the devil: and the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are angels. As therefore the tares are gathered up and burned with fire; so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that hath ears, let him hear." — Matthew 13:36-43 (ASV)

Declare to us. That is, explain the meaning of the parable. This was done in such a plain manner as to render comment unnecessary. The Son of man, the Lord Jesus, sows the good seed; that is, preaches the gospel. This he did personally, and does now by his ministers, his providence, and his Spirit, by all the means of conveying truth to the mind.

This seed was, by various means, to be carried over all the world. It was to be confined to no particular nation or people. The good seed was the children of the kingdom; that is, of the kingdom of God, or Christians. For these the Saviour toiled and died. They are the fruit of his labours.

Yet among them were wicked men; and all hypocrites and unbelievers in the church are the work of Satan. Yet they must remain together until the end, when they will be separated, and the righteous saved, and the wicked lost. The one will shine clear as the sun; the other will be cast into a furnace of fire—a most expressive image of suffering.

We have no idea of more acute suffering than to be thrown into the fire, and to have our bodies made capable of bearing the burning heat, and living on in this burning heat forever and ever. It is not certain that our Saviour meant to teach here that hell is made up of material fire; but it is certain that he meant to teach that this would be a proper representation of those sufferings.

We may be further assured that the Redeemer would not deceive, or use words to torment and tantalize us. He would not talk of hell-fire which had no existence; nor would the God of truth hold out frightful images merely to terrify mankind. If he has spoken of hell, then there is a hell.

If he meant to say that the wicked will suffer, then they will suffer. If he did not mean to deceive mankind, then there is a hell; and then the wicked will suffer. The impenitent, therefore, should be alarmed. And the righteous, however much wickedness they may see, and however many hypocrites there may be in the church, should be cheered with the prospect that soon the just will be separated from the unjust, and that they will shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.