Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Mark 4:12

"that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest haply they should turn again, and it should be forgiven them." — Mark 4:12 (ASV)

Mark follows up this saying of Jesus with a quotation from Isa 6:9–10 (using the LXX, the Greek translation of the OT), introduced with “so that.” He omits the strong statements of the first part of v.10 and changes the LXX’s “and I heal them” to “and be forgiven.” In doing this, Mark follows the Targum (an Aramaic paraphrase of the OT)—an indication of the authenticity of that statement.

Taken at face value, the statement seems to be saying that the purpose of parables is that unbelievers may not receive the truth and be converted. That this statement was thought to be difficult theologically may be seen in Matthew’s change of hina (“in order that”; GK 2671) to hoti (“with the result that”; GK 4022) and in Luke’s dropping of the mēpote (“otherwise”) clause.

Several recent attempts have been made to weaken the telic force of hina. (1) It is held that hina is used in the text to introduce a result clause (like Matthew’s oti). (2) Mark has mistranslated the original Aramaic word de; it means “who,” not “in order that.” Thus the text should read, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside who are ever seeing but never perceiving... everything is said in parables” (emphasis mine). (3) The purpose idea is not authentic with Jesus but represents Mark’s theology. (4) Hina is an introductory formula to the free translation of Isa. 6:9–10 and is almost equivalent to “in order that it might be fulfilled.” All of these attempts have their defects. Although (1) and (2) alleviate the problem of hina, they do not address that of “otherwise” which also suggests purpose. Solution (3) drives a wedge between Jesus and Mark, while (4), clearly the best choice of the four, founders on the fact that Mark elsewhere does not use hina with this meaning.

Perhaps the best way to understand v.12 is that it simply teaches that one reason Jesus taught in parables was to conceal the truth to persistent unbelievers. Jesus’ parables were not always clear. The disciples themselves had difficulty understanding them (cf. 7:17). So Jesus taught in parables (at least on some occasions) so that his enemies might not be able to comprehend the full significance of his words and bring false accusations or charges against him. He knew that in some cases understanding would result in more sin and not in accepting the truth. Then, too, God does on occasion harden some people in order to carry out his sovereign purposes (cf. Romans 11:25–32). Indirectly, Jesus is challenging us to penetrate beneath the surface of the story and to grasp its real meaning.

These verses are among the most difficult in the entire gospel. It is important to look carefully at the terminology. The word translated “secret” (v.11) is mysterion (GK 3696, occuring only here and in Mt 3:11; Lk 8:10 in the Gospels). Paul uses it frequently in his epistles (10:7; 17:5, 7). It does not mean something only for the initiated few; rather, it emphasizes God’s disclosure to humans of what was previously unknown. It is proclaimed to all, but only those who have faith really understand. Here in Mark the mystery is the disclosure that the kingdom of God has drawn near in the person of Jesus Christ.

This secret has been given to the disciples because they have responded in faith, but to those hardened by unbelief (cf. ch. 3), the entire significance of Jesus’ person and mission lies “in parables” (i.e., “riddles”).