Why Jesus Spoke in Parables

The disciples asked the question outright — Matthew 13:10 — and Jesus answered it from Isaiah 6. One form of speech that reveals and conceals at once, and the text says both without blushing.

Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries.

Summary

The disciples asked the question outright at Matthew 13:10, and Jesus answered from Isaiah 6: one form of speech that reveals and conceals at once.

The question is the disciples' own, not a modern puzzle.
Isaiah's commission is quoted five times across the New Testament.
Judgment, or mercy with a horizon: both readings are held.
The parable form itself does what the answer describes.

The point

The disciples asked it outright — “Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” (Matt 13:10) — and Jesus answered by reaching back seven centuries to quote Isaiah’s own commission (Isa 6:9–10) word for word.

The five New Testament citations of Isaiah’s commission named on this page — not every echo of the passage in Scripture.

The question the disciples asked

The same day the Pharisees said, "This man doth not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons" (Matt 12:24). "On that day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side" (13:1), stepped into a boat, and changed the shape of his teaching. When the disciples came to him, their question was the one every reader has asked since: "Why speakest thou unto them in parables?" (13:10).

His answer holds two movements in a single breath. Revelation: "Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven… blessed are your eyes, for they see" (13:11, 16). Concealment: "but to them it is not given… Therefore speak I to them in parables; because seeing they see not" (13:11, 13), and then he quotes Isaiah 6:9–10 in full, with the fulfillment formula (13:14–15). This page sets the two texts face to face and lets the confrontation do the teaching.

John Wesley read the "given" side as no arbitrary favor: "To you, who have, it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven — The deep things which flesh and blood cannot reveal, pertaining to the inward, present kingdom of heaven. But to them who have not, it is not given — Therefore speak I in parables, that ye may understand, while they do not understand." — John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Bible (1765), on Matthew 13:11.

Framework summary drawn from the parables-why research brief (2026-07-22); Scripture ASV (PD); quotation rows per MannaFest's research brief.

Isaiah's commission, quoted five times

Isaiah 6:9–10 is not a proof-text plucked once. The facing text itself: "Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed" (Isa 6:9–10).

It is quoted or directly taken up in all four Gospels and Acts: Matthew 13:14–15; Mark 4:11–12; Luke 8:10; John 12:39–41 (where John adds, "These things said Isaiah, because he saw his glory; and he spake of him") and Acts 28:26–27, Paul's last recorded scene to the Roman synagogue leaders. The New Testament reaches for this one passage whenever the word of God meets ears that will not hear.

Isaiah's own scene bounds the hardening: the prophet asks "Lord, how long?" and is answered "Until cities be waste without inhabitant" (6:11). And the chapter's last clause plants a survivor: "the holy seed is the stock thereof" (6:13).

The Greek data sharpens the question rather than settling it. Mark's Greek word is hina ("that," purpose): "that seeing they may see, and not perceive" (4:12). Matthew's is hoti ("because," a stated fact about the hearers): "because seeing they see not" (13:13).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown noted the tension directly: "In Mark and Luke (Mr 4:12; Lu 8:10), what is here expressed as a human fact is represented as the fulfilment of a divine purpose — 'that seeing they may see, and not perceive,' &c." — Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on Matthew 13:13. Whether the parable's veil is judgment, mercy with a horizon, or both, is the contested question the next section holds open rather than resolves.

Sources: the research brief §1.5, §4.1–4.2; positions of Chrysostom (Homilies on Matthew, Hom. 45, PD), Calvin (Harmony of the Evangelists, 1555, PD), Trench (Notes on the Parables, 1841, PD) paraphrased with attribution; Jeremias (1954/1972) cite-only.

This Site's Tradition

In the dispensational reading this site's tradition holds, Matthew 13 is a turning point: after the rejection of Matthew 12, Jesus unveils the interim form of the kingdom in mystery: pre-tribulation, premillennial, dispensational, per this site's stated tradition. That reading is presented first-class in the next section, with the inaugurated-kingdom reading presented at full strength beside it.

Judgment, or mercy with a horizon: both readings held

Calvin read Matthew's "because" and Mark's "that" together as one instrument: the same word that illumines the disciples judicially blinds the unreceptive, a hardening deserved and enacted (Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, 1555, on Matt 13:11ff, PD, paraphrase). Chrysostom argued the dullness was self-inflicted before the parable ever met it, and that Jesus' aim in the form was to arrest attention rather than to shut anyone out (Homilies on Matthew, Hom. 45, 4th c., PD, paraphrase).

Trench's classic statement holds both without softening either: the parable has a double office, revealing to the receptive and veiling from the hostile in the same breath (Notes on the Parables of Our Lord, 1841, PD, paraphrase). Joachim Jeremias proposed that a single ambiguous Aramaic particle underlies both the "that" and the "because," so the two Greek renderings may translate one original rather than record two settled theologies (The Parables of Jesus, cite-only).

Both faces stand on the text. The severity reading has real weight: Matthew 13:12's forfeiture, "from him shall be taken away even that which he hath", is stated as fact, and John 12:39 says plainly "they could not believe," an outcome, not merely a description. The mercy-with-a-horizon reading has equal weight: Isaiah's own "how long?" is bounded (6:11), and the remnant clause (6:13) is not decorative.

On the wider frame, whether Matthew 13's "mysteries" mark a postponed kingdom unveiled in the interim, or a kingdom genuinely present in advance of its consummation, this site's tradition is stated plainly (pre-trib, premillennial, dispensational) rather than adjudicating the debate away; the inaugurated reading is held here at full strength rather than flattened. Isaiah's commission scene sits inside the Isaiah hub; Matthew 13 sits inside the Matthew hub.

Featured study

The question, asked in the text

The disciples asked it first: “Why speakest thou unto them in parables?” (Matt 13:10). Jesus’ answer is the only place in the Gospels where he explains his own teaching method — and it faces two directions at once. To the disciples: “it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (13:11). Of the crowd: “therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not” (13:13). Then he reaches back seven centuries and quotes Isaiah’s commission, word for word.

This page sets the two texts on facing pages — Matthew’s answer beside Isaiah’s commission — because the confrontation is the argument. Everything else here is apparatus around that spread.

The scene

A boat for a pulpit

Matthew 13 facing Isaiah 6The facing pages

Jesus does not paraphrase Isaiah; Matthew records the citation in full, with the fulfillment formula — “in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias” (13:14). Read the columns line against line: the waxed-gross heart, the heavy ears, the closed eyes — and the healing both texts hold at the end of the sentence.

The answer

Matthew 13:13–15

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes… and should be converted, and I should heal them.

Matthew 13:13–15, KJV. Matthew’s conjunction is hoti — “becausethey seeing see not.”

The commission

Isaiah 6:9–10

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

Isaiah 6:9–10, KJV — from the commission scene (Isa 6:1–13), the year king Uzziah died. Mark’s parallel keeps Isaiah’s purpose-grammar: hina, “thatseeing they may see, and not perceive” (Mark 4:12).

One commission, five hearingsThe reception

Isaiah 6:9–10 is quoted or directly taken up in all four Gospels and Acts — the passage the New Testament reaches for whenever the word of God meets ears that will not hear. Every row is checkable at its verse.

Passage	The text (KJV)	Who speaks, and where
Matt 13:14–15	By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive.	Jesus, answering the disciples' question: the only citation with the full fulfillment formula.
Mark 4:12	That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand.	The same scene in Mark, with the Greek hina (“that”), the purpose-clause the debate turns on.
Luke 8:10	Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see.	Luke's compressed form of the same answer.
John 12:39–41	He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart… These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.	The evangelist's verdict on the unbelief of the crowds, and John's claim that Isaiah's throne-room vision was a vision of Christ.
Acts 28:26–27	Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive.	Paul's last recorded scene, to the synagogue leaders at Rome: the NT's final citation of the commission.

Revelation and concealment, in one chapterBoth at once

The chapter refuses to choose. The concealment texts are real: “to them it is not given… from him shall be taken away even that he hath” (13:11–12). And the revelation texts are just as real: “blessed are your eyes, for they see… many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see” (13:16–17). Twenty verses later Matthew quotes Psalm 78:2 to say the parables utter“things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (13:34–35) — the same form that veils the unreceptive discloses buried treasure to the listening.

The Greek word itself carries the double motion: parabolē (from paraballō, “to cast alongside”) is a comparison laid beside a truth — beside it, so that seeing it still takes ears to hear. In the New Testament the word belongs to the Synoptics (with two uses in Hebrews); John’s Gospel uses paroimia instead. The Hebrew field behind it is mashal— proverb, byword, dark saying — the very word of Psalm 78:2.

Word data: Strong’s/Thayer (PD), resident lexicon — see the word doors below. Quotation rows: the site’s OT-in-NT quotation ledger.

Contested

◈Does the parable conceal by design, or describe a dullness already there?contested · three readings and a framework question, none adjudicated

The judicial reading

Mark’s hina (“thatseeing they may see, and not perceive”) keeps the grammar of Isaiah’s commission, where hardening is the appointed effect of the prophet’s word. On this reading the same word that illumines the disciples judicially blinds hearts already set against it — Calvin reads the passage this way in his Harmony.

John Calvin· Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, on Matt 13 (1555, PD) — paraphrase

The responsibility reading

Matthew’s hoti (“because they seeing see not”) locates the cause in the hearers. Chrysostom presses this: the dullness was self-inflicted before the parable ever met it, and the vivid story-form was chosen to stir attention, not to shut anyone out.

John Chrysostom· Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Hom. 45 (4th c., PD) — paraphrase

The double office, and the philologist’s caution

Trench’s classic statement holds both faces without softening either: the parable has a double office, revealing truth to the receptive while veiling it from the hostile. Jeremias added a caution from the Aramaic: one underlying particle could yield both Mark’s “that” and Matthew’s “because,” so the Greek fork may translate a single ambiguous original.

Richard Chenevix Trench· Notes on the Parables of Our Lord (1841, PD) — paraphrase

Joachim Jeremias· The Parables of Jesus (SCM, ET 1954/1972)

The framework question: what turned at Matthew 13?

In the dispensational reading the founder holds, Matthew 13 follows the rejection of Matthew 12 as a turning point: Jesus unveils the “mysteries” — the previously unrevealed interim form of the kingdom between rejection and return. The inaugurated reading answers that the mystery is the kingdom genuinely present in advance of its consummation — not postponed but inaugurated. Both cited; neither adjudicated here.

Alva J. McClain· The Greatness of the Kingdom (Moody, 1959)

Stanley D. Toussaint· Behold the King (Multnomah, 1980)

George Eldon Ladd· The Presence of the Future (Eerdmans, 1974)

Isaiah’s own “How long?” (6:11–13) bounds the hardening and ends with a holy seed — data both sides must carry. No confidence badges; the founder’s flag is noted and the alternatives are cited at strength.

Scripture’s own cross-lightsWhy these links

“Without a parable spake he not unto them” (Matt 13:34)

I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old. (Psalm 78:2)
Matthew quotes this line as fulfilled (13:35): the parable also UTTERS “things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” Concealment and disclosure stand in the same chapter.

“Blessed are your eyes, for they see” (Matt 13:16)

And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: for I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see. (Luke 10:23–24)
Luke marks the saying as spoken privately: the two-audience structure of the parable day, corroborated from another Gospel.

“Lord, how long?” (Isa 6:11)

Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant… so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof. (Isaiah 6:11–13)
Isaiah's own question bounds the hardening: it runs to a horizon, and a seed survives it. Whatever the veil is, the chapter that decrees it also plants a survivor.

Hear the whole day for yourself

Enter the reader at Matthew 13 →

Go deeper

Where to go from here

Catalog

Every parableThe whole list, grouped by what each one teaches, with the text opening where you stand.

Word study

Parabolē (G3850)From paraballō, “to cast alongside”: the word's every occurrence, and why John's Gospel never uses it.

Continue: The Kingdom Parables →

Where it leads

Featured studies2

Built on the same Scripture3

On The Gospels65

On Doctrine28

On Jesus17

The whole shelf: What Jesus Taught →