Matthew 13:12

12 Those who have understanding will be given more, and they will have all they need. But those who do not have understanding, even what 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 The followers came to Jesus and asked, "Why do you use stories to teach the people?"

11 Jesus answered, "You have been chosen to know the secrets about the kingdom of heaven, but others cannot know these secrets.

12 Those who have understanding will be given more, and they will have all they need. But those who do not have understanding, even what they have will be taken away from them.

13 This is why I use stories to teach the people: They see, but they don't really see. They hear, but they don't really hear or understand.

14 So they show that the things Isaiah said about them are true: 'You will listen and listen, but you will not understand. You will look and look, but you will not learn.