Matthew 13:12

12 For those who have will receive more and they will have more than enough. But as for those who don't have, even the little they have will be taken away from them.

Matthew 13:12 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 13:12

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given
Whoever has the true grace of God implanted in him, has a saving knowledge of Christ, and a spiritual acquaintance with the doctrines of the Gospel, shall have more grace given him; he shall grow in the knowledge of Christ, and the Spirit of truth shall lead him into all truth:

and he shall have more abundance:
of grace, light, knowledge, and experience: all grace shall be made to abound towards him; he shall be filled with all the fulness of God, and shall arrive to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; and his light shall shine more and more unto the perfect day.

But whosoever hath not:
the truth of grace, nor a spiritual knowledge of Christ, nor any experience of the doctrines of the Gospel,

from him shall be taken away, even that he hath,
or "that which he seemed to have", as Luke expresses it; for everything besides true grace is a mere show, and has no solidity in it; as natural parts, human learning, and a form of knowledge and of truth in the law, the national church state of the Jews, with all the outward privileges appertaining thereunto, all which may be here meant; and even speculative notions of the Gospel, the external gifts of the Spirit, the means of grace, the Gospel of the kingdom of God, and the ministry of it, which in process of time were wholly taken from these people.

Matthew 13:12 In-Context

10 Jesus' disciples came and said to him, "Why do you use parables when you speak to the crowds?"
11 Jesus replied, “Because they haven't received the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but you have.
12 For those who have will receive more and they will have more than enough. But as for those who don't have, even the little they have will be taken away from them.
13 This is why I speak to the crowds in parables: although they see, they don't really see; and although they hear, they don't really hear or understand.
14 What Isaiah prophesied has become completely true for them: You will hear, to be sure, but never understand; and you will certainly see but never recognize what you are seeing.
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