In his endeavor to impart to his disciples some conception of those spiritual truths which were to him the eternal realities of being, and which he was able to demonstrate in the healing of sickness and sin, the Master made use of similitudes and parables; and it is said that "without a parable spake he not unto them." That these parables have been misunderstood and misinterpreted, in some instances teaching the very opposite of that which they were intended to teach, is evidenced by the radical changes that have been made from time to time in the various declarations of faith set forth by the different religious denominations in this and other lands.
The parable of the tares of the field is often interpreted in such a manner as to be made to teach the doctrine of eternal punishment. It is thought that the wheat and the tares represent good people and bad people, who are found side by side in every community. They meet and pass each other on the street; they mingle together in the business world, in the social world they are not separated; they are even found dwelling together under the same roof, apparently in peace and harmony. But this condition of affairs is one which, for some reason, is suffered to be so now, and it is argued that there will come a time of separation. The good people will enter heaven to the enjoyment of eternal life, while the bad people will be consigned to a place of everlasting punishment.
If this is the correct interpretation of the parable, it would seem to teach that the now almost entirely rejected doctrine of foreordination and predestination clearly sets forth the divine will and purpose. Wheat always remains wheat, and tares can never be anything else than tares. In no way is it possible for one to become the other. Then, according to this interpretation, it would not be possible for the wicked man to turn from his evil ways and live, as he is repeatedly exhorted to do in the Bible. The destiny of all the unrighteous would thus be foreordained, and the very best they could do would be to become resigned to the inevitable.
