Books

Focus On The Fundamentals Of The Faith

By W. Douglass Harris

The Seed and Soil Necessary to Salvation

Note the word “necessary” in the caption of this article. It would be a waste of time, talent, and effort to discuss something not essential to salvation. Our title suggests two basic essentials to scriptural conversion — the right seed and the right soil. Without the God-ordained seed and the proper soil, there can be no salvation from sin.

The seed necessary to salvation: “The seed of the kingdom is the word of God” (Matthew 13:19; Luke 8:11). God established His immutable law at creation that each seed produces after its kind (Genesis 1:11,24). Had the pure, unadulterated word of God been sown from the beginning (Pentecost, Acts 2; 11:15) until now, there would be only one church in existence now. This seed produced only one church in the first century and would have done the same thing in subsequent centuries unmixed with doctrines and commandments of men.

Let us note some essentials of the seed to reproduce. (1) It must be alive, or the germ of life must be in it. Inspiration affirms that it is “living and active” as God gave it (Hebrews 4:12); that it is God’s power unto salvation (Romans 1:16), and imperishable (1 Peter 1:23). (2) Seed must be planted. Peter and the other apostles were promised that they would do the first sowing (Matthew 16:19; 18:18). They were also promised another Comforter, the Holy Spirit, that would reveal to them the seed (John 14:26; 16:13). This was a promise of inspiration and infallibility. (3) There must be a place to begin the development of the seed. In fulfillment of the promise to His apostles, the Holy Spirit descended on them in baptismal measure on the first Pentecost day after His ascension into heaven to guide them into all the truth (Acts 1:4-8). Peter and the other apostles were the sowers, the place was in Jerusalem, and the Holy Spirit miraculously supplied the seed. Luke said this is where it would begin (Luke 24:44-49), and Peter referred to it as “the beginning” (Acts 11:15). Any seed that originated with any source other than the infallible (in teaching and writing) apostles of Christ is false seed. We now have the seed in the completed and final revelation in the New Testament (Jude 3; 2 Timothy 3:16,17).

The soil necessary to salvation: In the same parable where the seed is identified, the proper soil is also described — “honest and good hearts” (Luke 8:15). All the soils in the parable of the sower represent different kinds of hearts, but only that of the good soil, honest and good hearts, produced properly. And the order of “honest and good” is significant, which is the order in the Greek text. No heart is a good heart until it is first an honest heart. Note particularly the three requirements to produce fruit to perfection — a sower, good seed (pure gospel), and honest and good hearts. It was the same seed that was sown in all the soils by the same sower; the great difference was how all heard the word (Cf. Luke 8:18).

Note the process at work in Acts 2. Peter’s sermon (verses 22-36) prepared the soil for the seed. In reply to their question, “What shall we do?” (which implied they believed the word preached by Peter and were convicted of their sins), Peter bound on them what had already been bound in heaven as conditions of pardon (Acts 2:38; Cf. Matthew 16:19; 18:18). Luke records the results in these words: “They that gladly received his word” (the seed) “were baptized” (Acts 2:41). Note the indispensable elements of preaching the gospel (sowing the seed), and the reception into “honest and good “ hearts. This same process is evident in every case of conversion recorded in the book of Acts, the book of conversions.

What was the fruit that was produced? Mormons? Christian Scientists? Jehovah’s Witnesses? Seventh Day Adventists? The seeds that produced these false plants had not been concocted. They were simply saints (later called Christians) and members of the Lord’s church (Acts 2:47). The same seed (unmixed with the doctrines and commandments of men), planted today in the same kind of soil will produce now exactly what it did then. If not, why not?