Grace
Theological Journal 1.1 (1980) 37-42
Copyright © 1980 by Grace Theological
Seminary.
Cited with permission.
THE PROBLEM OF THE
MUSTARD SEED
JOHN A.
SPROULE
In this article the author seeks to
demonstrate exegetically and
botanically that our Lord Jesus Christ was
not merely using the
language of accommodation or even
proverbial language, necessarily,
when he referred to the mustard seed as
the "least" of all seeds. The
author appeals to the language of the
text, the context, and to expert
testimony in the field of botany to show
that the mustard seed was
indeed the smallest garden-variety seed
known to man in Bible times.
THE PROBLEM
Matt
favorite target for opponents of the
inerrancy of the autographs of
Scripture. In the context of this passage,
Jesus, in a parable, describes
the phenomenal growth of the
that growth with the growth of a grain of
mustard (sina<pewj) which
is sown in a field and grows to be larger
than any of the garden herbs
(laxa<nwn). Jesus refers to the
mustard seed as the least (mikro<teron)
of all seeds (sperma<twn).
Daniel
Fuller of Fuller Theological Seminary, arguing for cul-
tural accommodation, states that Jesus
referred to the mustard seed
as the smallest of seeds when, in fact,
the mustard seed is not the
smallest seed known botanically to man.1
He argues that Jesus was
accommodating his language to the
knowledge of the people. In
short, what Christ said was inaccurate,
but it met the need. Harold
Lindsell refers to one of Fuller's public
lectures and writes:
Dr.
Fuller alleges that botanically we know that there are smaller seeds
than
the mustard seed. And that is true. Then he argues that Jesus
accommodates
Himself to the ignorance of the people to whom He was
1. D. P.
Fuller. Evangelism and Biblical Inerrancy
(unpublished monograph,
Dallas
Theological Seminary, n.d.) 18. This work first came to this writer's attention
in 1968.
38 GRACE
THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
speaking, since they believed this. But it constitutes an error,
and the
presence
of one error invalidates the claim to biblical inerrancy.2
Lindsell,
in offering suggested solutions to the apparent problem,
appeals to a suggestion made nearly a
century ago by John A.
Broadus. Lindsell writes:
The
American Commentary says of this passage that it was popular
language,
and it was the intention of the speaker
to communicate the
fact
that the mustard seed was "the smallest that his hearers were
accustomed
to sow." And indeed this may well be the case. In that
event
there was no error. If the critics of Scripture wish to use the
intention
of the writer, this is one place it can be used ill favor of
inerrancy.3
An
alternative appeal is made by Lindsell to Matthew Henry's
suggested reading of the passage--the
mustard seed "which is one of
the least of all seeds.”4 Lindsell does not believe that the Greek is
sufficiently clear at this point to affirm
that Jesus actually was saying
that the mustard seed is the smallest of
all the seeds on the earth. He
writes:
He
[Jesus] was saying it is less than all the seeds. What must be deter-
mined
is what the words "all the seeds" mean here. If Jesus was talking
about
the seeds commonly known to the people of that day, the effect
of
His words was different from what they would have been if He was
speaking
of all the seeds on the earth. When the
possibility exists for a
translation
that fulfills the intention of the speaker and does not
constitute
error, that passage is to be preferred above one that does the
opposite.
And when two possibilities exist; why should not the benefit
of
any doubt be given in favor of the one that fulfills what the
Scripture
teaches about inerrancy? To choose the other route leaves
behind
the implication that one is seeking out error and trying to
establish
it on flimsy grounds.5
Lindsell
is certainly right in his position that the Bible, with such
few apparent errors still unresolved, should
be given the benefit of
any doubts. However, his two suggested
solutions to the problem do
not go into sufficient detail as they stand,
although they are certainly
moving in the right direction. All that
seems to be needed is a more
detailed extension of both of his
suggestions.
2. H.
Lindsell, The
Lindsell
cites an unpublished paper delivered by D. P. Fuller at
3. Ibid, Lindsell cites J. A.
Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of
Matthew
(Philadelphia:
American Baptist Publication Society, 1886) 296.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
SPROULE: THE MUSTARD SEED
Several
years ago (1968-69), this writer investigated the "prob-
lem" of the mustard seed.6
It is the purpose of this article to
suggest a
solution which is more satisfactory than
most of the suggested
solutions and which squares with the Greek
text, the context, com-
mon sense, and the Bible's teaching
concerning its own inerrancy.
THE SUGGESTED SOLUTION
In
the NT there is a blurring of distinction between the compara-
tive and superlative forms of the
adjective.7 The comparative
form
mikro<teron appears to serve for both the comparative and superlative
forms of the adjective mikro<j, and only its usage in the immediate
context, as Jesus understood and used it,
and its use in the parallel
passage, Mark 4:30-32, can determine how
it is to be translated.
Alford argues that the word should not be
taken as a superlative and
that the phrase should not be pressed too
literally since the mustard
seed was proverbial of anything small.8
Mare, in a scholarly treat-
ment of this text and of the modern
translations of the comparative
forms in it, also argues for the
comparative use here.9 He
appeals
to the anarthrous construction of mikro<teron in arguing his case,
but such an appeal is inconclusive.
Significant here is Robertson's
statement:
The
comparative form, therefore, has two ideas, that of contrast or
duality
(Gegensatz) and of the relative
comparative (Steigerung),
though
the first use was the original. Relative
comparison is, of course,
the dominant idea
in most of the NT examples [italics mine], though
as
already
remarked, the notion of duality always lies in the background.10
Thus,
since relative comparison is dominant with the comparative
and in consideration of the immediate
context (where it could be taken
as comparative but combined with the idea
of totality, i.e., "less than
all seeds," making it essentially superlative, it seems best
to regard
mikro<teron
as superlative. Mark's addition of tw?n e]pi< th?j gh?j in the
parallel passage (Mark
6. J. A.
Sproule, An Exegesis of New Testament
Passages Cited As Errant By
Evangelicals (unpublished Master of
Theology Thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1969)
7-11.
7. A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the
Light of
Historical Research (Nashville:
Broadman, 1934) 668.
8. H. Alford, The Greek Testament, rev. by E. F. Harrison (4 vols.;
1958), 1. 144.
9. W. H. Mare, "The Smallest
Mustard Seed -Matthew
(1968) 3-11.
10. Robertson, Grammar, 663.
40 GRACE
THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
granted then that Jesus did declare the mustard seed to be the
least of
all seeds. Is error involved?
The
problem of error finds its solution in the kind of seed to
which Jesus was referring. The mustard
seed referred to was most
likely the Sinapis (sina<pi) nigra, or "black
mustard," cultivated to
produce a useful product, namely, mustard
and colza oil.11 Botani-
cally, the smallest of all seeds is the
orchid seed. However, the
smallest garden-variety seed (la<xanon) in
eastern world, at the time of Christ was
the mustard seed. This is true
today. Shinners writes:
The
smallest of all seeds are those of orchids. The account under
"ORCHIDS"
in L. H. Bailey's Standard Cyclopedia of
Horticulture
has this statement: The seeds of orchids are minute and extremely
numerous,
the number in a single capsule have been estimated for
different
species from several thousand to over a million. There are 13
genera
with a total of 61 species of this family described in the Flora of
Edward
Dinsmore, 1932). These are not the huge florist's kinds that the
ordinary
person thinks of first..., but they are large enough to be
noticeable
as wild flowers...the mustard seed would
indeed have
been the smallest
of those likely to have been noticed by the people at
the time of
Christ. The principal field crops (such as barley,
wheat,
lentils,
beans) have much larger seeds, as do
vetches and other plants
which
might have been present as weeds (the biblical tares) among
grain….There
are various weeds and wild flowers belonging to the
mustard,
amaranth, pigweed, and chickweed families with seeds as
small
or smaller than mustard itself, but they would not have been
particularly
known or noticed by the inhabitants. Mustard occurs both
wild
and planted. The seeds of basil (Ocium basilicum,
in the mint
family)
are nearly as small as those of mustard, and the plant was used
in
ancient times, though not so much as in later periods (medieval and
modern).
The only modern crop plant of importance with smaller seeds
than
mustard is tobacco, but this plant is of American origin and was
not
grown in the
absolute
terms, the number of species in Christ's time was almost the
same
as at present, the chief differences being the disappearance of
some
(mostly in quite modern times), and the development of hybrids
or
garden varieties (which aren't true species).12
11. H. N.
and A. L. Moldenke, Plants of the Bible
(
1952) 59.
12. L. H. Shinners, private
interview held at the Herbarium at Southern Methodist
University,
Botany from
the
at the
Association
of Naturalists. He is the founder, editor, and publisher of the journal,
SPROULE: THE
MUSTARD SEED 41
Shinners,
an expert in the field of botany, has been quoted at
length to show that the mustard seed in Bible
times was the smallest
garden-variety seed and, with the
exception of tobacco, remains so
today. That Jesus was referring to garden-variety mustard seed is
evident from the context. His analogy is
between the growth of the
Kingdom and the growth of an intentionally
planted seed, i.e.,
garden-variety ("…which a man
took and sowed in his field"). In
every NT instance where spe<rma is used botanically, it is used in an
agricultural sense of being sowed (cf.
Matt
2 Cor. 9: 10). Also, on every such
occasion, it is used in connection with
the verb spei<rw which means "to
sow." The derivation of spe<rma
from spei<rw further augments the
argument that Jesus' use of spe<rma
in Matt 13:32 referred to that which was
planted by man. This
conclusion is fully supported by both
classical usage and the papyri
evidence.13
This
argument is further buttressed by the obvious association
between sperma<twn and laxa<nwn ("herbs") in the text. Liddell and
Scott describe λάχανον
as occurring mostly in the plural and refer-
ring to garden herbs, potherbs, vegetables,
and greens, in opposition
to wild plants.14 Bomkamm defines la<xanon as "edible
plants,"
"vegetables," which are grown in
the field or garden.15
CONCLUSION
Therefore,
it may be concluded that when Jesus called the
mustard seed the least of all seeds, the
reference was to garden-variety
seeds, and Sinapis nigra was the smallest of all such seeds.16 This is a
reasonable conclusion and it squares with
both the Greek and the
context of the disputed passages.
Postscript
A second defense against the claim
of errancy is that Jesus was
speaking proverbially, since the great contrast
between the very small.
SIDA Contributions to Botany. Dr.
Shinners has been guest lecturer at the Annual
Symposium on
Systematics at the Missouri Botanical Gardens and at the Smithsonian
Institute.
He presently serves as Director of the Herbarium at Southern Methodist
University,
the largest herbarium in the southwest, containing more than 318,000
botanical
specimens from all parts of the world.
13. H. G. Liddell and R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon (7th ed.;
Harper &
Bros., 1889) 1414; for the papyri evidence, see J. H. Moulton and G.
Milligan, The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (
1930) 583.
14. Liddell and Scott, Lexicon, 879.
15. G. Bornkamm, “la<xanon” TDNT 4 (1968) 65.
16. Mare, "The Smallest Mustard
Seed," 7.
42 GRACE
THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
mustard seed and its ultimate herb was
proverbial of great growth.17
Proverbial language is not errant
language. Scientific precision need
not be expected of proverbial expressions,
just as today, when
newspapers announce official
"sunset" and "sunrise" times without
evoking a cry of "error!" Both
arguments presented herein adequately
show that no error is involved in Matt
17. H. L. Strack and P. Billerbeck, Kommentar zum Neuen Testament
aus Talmud und Midrash (4 vols.; Munchen:
C. H. Beck, 1961), 1. 669.
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