The Merchant Man

Who does the merchant represent in Matt 13:45?

Anyone please? This is a genuine question, I'm a bit confused from reading several different views.

It is as if I had a great sailing ship and was a merchant going all over the world looking for treasure, seeking all I could find, then when I found a pearl or diamond or sunken ship full of Gold that was worth all that I ever had our would ever have, That is what the Gospel of salvation is to the believer, God Loves me so much that He gave His only begotten Son to be killed in my place because I was seeking great riches that will parish in my death. In finding out the the Gospel is truly what I was looking for, that is a complete new person, with Christ in me born again into God's family and now I am a son of God who own's all the riches of all time and they are mine because He has made me a son by His Son He has birthed in me. The greatest treasure of All, Christ in me the Hope of glory. That is the Pearl of great price found by the merchantman.

In Christ: Phillip

Thats sort of how I have always understood it this parable. With the lost sinner being the merchant, and the Savior being the pearl.

I heard recently that the merchant is Christ, while the pearl is His bride??

thanks Phillip

Hi Mamaluk. I personally see in this parable the Lord Jesus giving all to purchase His Bride. :-)

If I could share this also, I see in John 4:23 something of the Merchant seeking and in Malachi 3:17 that we are His precious jewels. I see in it too that we are bought for the Kingdom rather than purchasing the Kingdom ourselves, 1Cor 6:20 - Acts 8:20. And just now Rev 5:12 comes to mind also.

Just my impressions. Hope they are helpfull to you also. I'm certainly open to hear why you may not agree :-)

Chris

Yes, I am more drawn to this interpretation very recently, just as the one lost sheep in the other parable, And, it seems more so of a Calvinistic approach.

Please let me hear more of this, I haven't made up my mind yet.

thanks

Hi again Mamaluk,

just as the one lost sheep in the other parable

Right, and there too we see the Lord comes to seek after us, even as the prophet said

[b]All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.[/b]

Think too we could look at the two parables which surround this one you brought up, the treasure in the field and the net in the sea. In both cases I find the Lord drawing out His people unto Himself, His treasure, and His good fish. What do you think?

I think too, doesn't it seem hard to imagine that feeble man could offer up something worthy to be called [i]a price[/i] for something so unimaginably valuable as Heaven and eternal life, or for One so incomparable as the Son of God?

Hi Mamaluk: You wrote:

Who does the merchant represent in Matt 13:45?

First the Bible teaches that the sinner does not find Christ but that Christ finds the sinner. “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). Notice - [b]there is none who seeks for God[/b]. Sinful man doesn’t want to find Christ for the same reason criminals don’t want to find a policeman. Sinful man doesn’t want to find Christ for the same reason that Adam and Eve didn’t want to find God after they sinned. We don't find Christ; Christ finds us.

Second, the Bible teaches that the sinner is bankrupt – the sinner has nothing to sell and nothing to purchase with. Salvation is a free gift, and if we are going to be saved it has to be, because we have nothing to purchase it with. To teach that this parable means that the sinner finds Christ and sells all that he has to purchase Him is to make salvation by works and not by grace. The sinner seeks – which would be a work, and the sinner sells – which would be a work. The water of life is a gift to the thirsty sinner from the seeking Savior who invites him or her to come and drink. “Let him who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes, take the water of life without cost” (Revelation 22:17).

Keeping the Bible in context gives us the true interpretation of these parables. It is the Savior who seeks and the Savior who sells in order to purchase or redeem the hidden treasure or the pearl of great price.

Here are two New Testament passages that speak of our being transformed into God's possession (special or peculiar treasure)- Titus 2:14, "
[b]Who gave Himself for us[/b], [i]that He might redeem us[/i] from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people (special or peculiar treasure), zealous of good works." See also 1 Peter 2:9-10.

Before He sought us and bought us we were trash headed for the eternal garbage heap called Gehenna - but then He gave Himself four us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and transformed us into His special or peculiar treasure. Praise be unto His Name! From trash to treasure - Oh! What a Savior!

Grace and peace
Olan

mamaluk wrote:

Thats sort of how I have always understood it this parable. With the lost sinner being the merchant, and the Savior being the pearl.

I heard recently that the merchant is Christ, while the pearl is His bride??

The theme to this chapt. is The sower of seed (Evangelistic) then the wheat & tares ([b]apocalyptic[/b]).

[u]The mustered sead[/u] is about denominations.
A mustard sead does not become a tree unles it is mutated and becomes something that it shouldn't in witch the birds(devils) nest in its branches ([b]denominations[/b])

[u]The woman took and hid leven in three measures of meal[/u]:
The Three measures of meal is the Basic Doctrines of Christianity while a harlot hides leven into it, which is never good. ([b]False doctrines that creep in[/b])

[b]Matthew 13:44[/b] [color=990000]Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.[/color]

If the field is the world and [u]the hidden treasure[/u] are the souls of man, that man who sold everything to buy that field is the Christian that gives his life up for the Kingdom to preach the Gosple. ([b]Evangelistic[/b])

The field is the world in the Parable of the Wheat & Tares, so then the field is the world in this parable.

Further more, if this parable about that Man who sold everything to buy that field is Evangelistic, This parable of [b]the Pearl of great price[/b] is about a man who is looking for the truth and when he found Jesus, who is the Truth, went and sold all that he had, and bought It. ([b]the effect of evangelizing[/b])

[b]Proverb 23:23[/b] [color=990000]Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.[/color]
&
[b]Job 28:12[/b] [color=990000]But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?[/color]
[b]Job 28:18[/b] [color=990000]No mention shall be made of coral, or of [b]pearls[/b]: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.[/color]
&
[b]Mat 7:6a[/b] [color=990000]Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your [b]pearls[/b] before swine,[/color]

The next Parable of [u]the drag net[/u] is apocalyptic as the wheat & tares.

Outline of Mat.13:
1) The sower of seed (Evangelistic)
2) Wheat & tares (apocalyptic)
3) The mustered sead (reality of the Kingdom)
4) The woman and leven (reality of the Kingdom)
5) A treasure hid in a field (Evangelistic)
6) the Pearl of great price (the effect of evangelizing)
7) The wheat & tares (apocalyptic)

Logic wrote:

If the field is the world and the hidden treasure are the souls of man, that man who sold everything to buy that field is the Christian that gives his life up for the Kingdom to preach the Gosple. (Evangelistic)

The field is the world. Notice that in the parable, the man purchased the whole field and not just the treasure but the whole field isn’t the treasure but only certain items in it.
The Bible teaches us that Christ is our advocate before the Father and that “He Himself is the propitiation (satisfaction) for our sins; and not or ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).

Christ died for the whole world but the whole world will not make appropriation of His atoning sacrifice.

Christ’s death is sufficient for the whole world but efficient only for those who make proper application with His death.

No evangelist has ever "purchased the world". He doesn't have the resources. Christ did purchase it and then commissioned His [b]treasure[/b] to proclaim His excellencies in order that others may also become the people of God. "But ye are a [b]chosen[/b] generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people (special treasure); [i]that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light: [/i] which in time past were not a people, but now are the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9-10).

The hidden treasure are the redeemed; God's special and peculiar people (Titus 2:14). See also Exodus 19:5-6; Deuteronomy 14:2; and Psalm 135:4.

The immediate context of Scripture never violates the over-all context of Scripture. The two are in agreement and establish a faithful witness.

Grace and peace
Olan

OverSeer wrote:

The field is the world. Notice that in the parable, the man purchased the whole field and not just the treasure but the whole field isn’t the treasure but only certain items in it.

No evangelist has ever "purchased the world". He doesn't have the resources.

The immediate context of Scripture never violates the over-all context of Scripture. The two are in agreement and establish a faithful witness.

Logic wrote:

The subject is not that he purchases the world, but that sells all that he has. for that treasure in wich God treasures(His creation)

If the field is the world and the hidden treasure are the souls of man, that man who sold everything to buy that field is the Christian that gives his life up for the Kingdom to preach the Gosple. (Evangelistic)

In Matthew 19:21 Jesus was dealing with a man whose God was his money. In other places where the Lord says that we have to love Him more than father, mother, wife, husband, etc.; the purpose is not to show that we can actually "buy" treasure but that what we "do treasure" can keep us from "becoming His treasure."

The purpose of the gospel is to transform us into His treasure so that we treasure Him above all else. We love Him because He first loved us - not the other way around. Then, because we love Him for His purchasing us, we no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died for us and rose again (2 Corinthians 5:15). Evangelism is an assignment and purpose of the treasure that Christ has purchased - "and hath committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:18). We who have been sought and bought are to proclaim the excellencies of Him who sought us and bought us (see 1 Peter 2:9).

Grace and peace
Olan

1 Corinthians 3:21-23 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

Colossians 2:3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Isaiah 33:6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.

1 John 5:11-12 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

The Father is the One that gives us to the Son. If God were the merchantman He would not be seeking, He knows those that are His, and Christ said he would loose none except Judas to fulfill the scriptures. He will loose none else that are given Him.

Christ is the Pearl of Great Price, in fact Priceless and unable to attain unless the treasure map by His Father is given those that find it.

In Christ: Phillip

hmmmmm......seems like a calvinist and arminiast battle going on here ;-)

Hi Phillip: You said:

Christ is the Pearl of Great Price, in fact Priceless and unable to attain unless the treasure map by His Father is given those that find it.

Grace and peace
Olan

hmmmmm......seems like a calvinist and arminiast battle going on here

Grace and peace
Olan

Beloved brothers, what wealth do we have with which to purchase anything? Will God sell His incorruptible riches for that which is corruptible?

Is not our possesion of the Kingdom upon our confession of being poor in spirit?

Did not the Lord say [b][color=660033]freely you have received[/color][/b]

What, will we give up our entire lives then? Indeed, but then what is that

[b][color=000000] I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.[/color][/b]

but our [b][color=000000]reasonable service[/color][/b]?

And so, having done even this would not the Lord tell us

[b][color=660033]So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.[/color][/b]

How then shall we purchase anything, having no currency with which to spend? What is the reply of the prophet?

[b] Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.[/b]

[b]Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? [u]hearken diligently unto me[/u], [i]and eat ye that which is good[/i], and let your soul delight itself in fatness.[/b]

[b] [u]Incline your ear[/u], [i]and come unto me[/i]: [u]hear, and your soul shall live[/u]; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.[/b]

[b] Behold, [u]I have given[/u][/b] [b][color=660033]Him[/color][/b][b] for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.[/b]

Saints,

This does seem like a bit of a debate between the Arm. and the Cal. Just by reading each of your posts warm my heart and mind tremendously, I can't tell you why, to see that you all loving and caring about the Scripture so much, studying It, defending It and sharing It so beautifully, I am very touched indeed.

I held the Arminianistic view in my younger Christian years, but now, I embrace Calvin's views of high grace thoroughly, and seems like there's no going back. God's grace is so so so so precious and must never be undermined, and that has to be to the jot. However, I wouldn't want to label myself a Calvinist anymore than Calvin would have wanted anyone else to call themselves by his name. (Knowing what little I knew of this humble saint, he most likely would be the last person who condones to sectarianism.)

Overseer, ChristJD, I think you have convinced me of this new found view in my mind. :) No, no, it's the doctrine of election really. For us Christians, everything , EVERY littlest thing that's good, comes from above. This is why, in my mind, this merchant has to be Christ, with His sacrifice for the elect given to Him by the Father. Lost sinners, as much as they labor to be the merchants, will not be able to seek out this pearl on their own.

Looking at this in the active or passive mode,
if the merchant is the active one, he has to be Christ. The fundamental comprehension and conviction of high Grace often permeates into one's application and interpretation of Scriptures, hopefully along with sound hermeneutics.

Phillip, this is probably the first time I have to disagree with you in interpretation, and with myself really,to my old way of thinking, but I fully appreciate the spiritual application behind your exegesis. Because that interpretation can carry a degree of exhortation for sinners ( the merchants ) to repent and come to Grace.

Logic, I like your outline on these parables, since I have a compartmentalized mind and tend to enjoy outlines a lot. I agree with a few of them as well.

I feel so blessed to be able to solicit answer this way. Praise God so much for you all !

ever so sincerely thankful

like what he told the rich young ruler, to sell all and give to the poor and then you will have riches in heaven. and, like when He told the crowd that we must forsake all in order to be His disciple.

:) :) God is too good, isn't HE?