What is the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares?

The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, or Tares, is filled with spiritual significance and truth. But, in spite of the clear explanation of the parable that Jesus gave (Matthew 13:36-43), this parable is very often misinterpreted. Many commentaries and sermons have attempted to use this story as an illustration of the condition of the church, noting that there are both true believers (the wheat) and false professors (the weeds) in both the church at large and individual local churches. While this may be true, Jesus distinctly explains that the field is not the church; it is the world (v. 38).

Even if He hadn’t specifically told us the world is the setting of the story, it would still be obvious. The landowner tells the servants not to pull up the weeds in the field, but to leave them until the end of the age. If the field were the church, this command would directly contradict Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 18, which tells us how to deal with unrepentant sinners in the church: they are to be put out of the fellowship and treated as unbelievers. Jesus never instructed us to let impenitent sinners remain in our midst until the end of the age. So, Jesus is teaching here about “the kingdom of heaven” (v. 24) in the world.

In the agricultural society of Christ’s time, many farmers depended on the quality of their crops. An enemy sowing weeds would have sabotaged a business. The tares in the parable were likely darnel because that weed, until mature, appears as wheat. Without modern weed killers, what would a wise farmer do in such a dilemma? Instead of tearing out the wheat with the tares, the landowner in this parable wisely waited until the harvest. After harvesting the whole field, the tares could be separated and burned. The wheat would be saved in the barn.

In the explanation of the parable, Christ declares that He Himself is the sower. He spreads His redeemed seed, true believers, in the field of the world. Through His grace, these Christians bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24). Their presence on earth is the reason the “kingdom of heaven” is like the field of the world. When Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17), He meant the spiritual realm which exists on earth side by side with the realm of the evil one (1 John 5:19). When the kingdom of heaven comes to its fruition, heaven will be a reality and there will be no “weeds” among the “wheat.” But for now, both good and bad seeds mature in the world.

The enemy in the parable is Satan. The field is the world. The devil tries to destroy Christ’s work by placing wicked people and false believers in the world to work unrighteousness. But the church’s job is not to rid the world of sinners (except through conversion) any more than it is the wheat’s job to pluck up the tares. In the parable, Christ allows the tares to remain until His return. At that time, angels will separate the just from the unjust and the true from false believers. Judgment is coming; in the meantime, God takes steps to ensure that His children are not adversely affected by His judgment on the wicked. God does not want to “uproot the wheat,” no matter how many tares there are (Matthew 13:29).

Tares, especially in the early stages of growth, resemble wheat. Likewise, a false believer may resemble a true believer, at least superficially. In Matthew 7:22, Jesus warned that many profess faith but do not know Him. Thus, each person should examine his or her own relationship with Christ (2 Corinthians 13:5). The book of 1 John is an excellent test of salvation.

Jesus Christ will one day establish true righteousness. After He raptures the church out of this world, God will pour out His righteous wrath on the world. During that tribulation, He will draw others to saving faith in Jesus Christ. At the end of the tribulation, all unbelievers will be judged for their sin and unbelief; then they will be removed from God’s presence. True followers of Christ will reign with Him. The “wheat” will be gathered into God's “barn” (Matthew 13:30). What a glorious future for the “wheat”!