by John Holbrook Jr.
A Biblical View, Blog #065 posted March 5, 2018, edited March 10, 2021.
Contents
Section 1 – Preamble
Section 2 – The Relevant Passages – Matthew 21:33-45, Mark 12:1-12 and Luke 20:9-19
Section 3 – Summary of the Parable
Section 4 – The Traditional Interpretation
Section 5 – The General Pattern
Section 6 – The Parable of the Householder
Section 7 – The Critical Points
Section 1 – Preamble
Many Christians, particularly those raised in churches within the major denominations, believe in supersessionism– that is, the doctrine that the institutional church (overwhelmingly Gentile) has replaced Israel as God’s Chosen People. Many of these Christians cite the Parable of the Householder as evidence for this belief. If you are one of them, I hope the following will persuade you otherwise.
Section 2 – The Relevant Passages
KJV MATTHEW 21:33-45 – Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them.
KJV MARK 12:1-12 – And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.
KJV LUKE 20:9-19 – Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time. And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out. Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him. But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid. And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them.
Section 3 – Summary of The Parable
The above passages describe the following: a householder (owner) leased a vineyard to husbandmen (tenant vintners). At the appropriate time, he sent a servant (agent) to the vineyard to collect the rent due to him, but the husbandmen beat and then drove off the servant. The householder sent a second servant, but again the husbandmen beat and drove off the second servant. Then the householder sent his son, the heir to the vineyard, whereupon the husbandmen killed the son, hoping thereby to seize his inheritance. At this point, Jesus makes clear that the householder himself will visit the vineyard, destroy the wicked husbandmen, and lease the vineyard to other husbandmen who will render the fruit of the vineyard (rent) when it is due.
Section 4 – The Traditional Interpretation
Traditionally Christians have used this parable to justify the view that God has replaced Israel with the Church. In their view:
► The Householder represents God;
► The unfaithful stewards, from whom the Householder takes the vineyard, represent Israel (or the Jews), and
► The faithful stewards, to whom the Householder gives the vineyard, represent the institutional – primarily Gentile – church (each denomination sees itself in the faithful stewards).
Section 5 – The General Pattern
In order to understand why the traditional interpretation of this parable is wrong, we need to see it in the context of the general pattern which appears in a number of the metaphors or parables in the Scriptures which use the imagery of a garden. The pattern has several elements:
► An owner or gardener or householder who represents God;
► The owner’s property – a tract of land, a vineyard, a garden, or a house – which represents a place belonging to God;
► The owner’s crop – a tree or a vine – which represents a people whom God has planted in the place; and
► The branches of the crop (tree or vine) which represent individuals or groups of individuals within the people.
Now consider Isaiah 5:7 – “…the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant….” Here,
► The owner is the Lord of Hosts – God-the-Son;
► The owner’s property is a vineyard which is identified as the House of Israel – that is, the Old Covenant Household, which is settled in Canaan, the Promised Land;
► The owner’s crop is his pleasant plant, which is identified as the men of Judah – that is, one of the tribes of the Covenant Household; and
► The branches of the crop are not mentioned.
Also consider Psalm 80:1, 6 – “…O Shepherd of Israel….Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt…” Here a Shepherd has brought his flock, which is called a vine, out of Egypt.
► The owner is the Shepherd – God-the-Son;
► The owner’s property is not mentioned, but it is certainly the Old Covenant Household, which is settled in Canaan, the Promised Land;
► The owner’s crop is the vine or Shepherd’s flock – that is, the Jews, the sole members of the Old Covenant Household, whom God brought out of Egypt (the Exodus); and
► The branches or individual lambs of the flock are not mentioned.
Finally consider Romans 11 – A gardener is tending a tree in his garden. He prunes out of it unfruitful branches and then grafts into it fruitful branches from a wild tree (a tree outside the garden). Paul is clear concerning what is going on here.
► The owner is God.
► The owner’s property is a garden – the House of Israel, the Old Covenant Household, which is settled in Canaan, the Promised Land.
► The owner’s crop is an olive tree in the garden which God is actively cultivating, and which represents the Jews.
► The branches of this cultivated tree are of three types:
● Natural branches which are alive and fruitful and which the gardener is letting remain and is tending – that is, faithful Jews who accept Messiah as their Savior and Lord, and who make up the Remnant of Israel;
● Natural branches which are dead and therefore unfruitful which the owner is removing and burning – that is, unfaithful Jews who reject the Messiah;
● Grafted branches which are also alive and fruitful which the gardener is removing from the wild olive tree outside the garden and adding to the cultivated tree inside the garden– that is, faithful Gentiles who accept Messiah as their Savior and Lord.
What remains in the owner’s garden is a “good” tree with some of its original branches (faithful Jews, the Remnant of Israel) and some grafted-in branches (faithful Gentiles). The altered or cultivated tree still represents Israel.
Section 6 – The Parable of the Householder
Now let us return to the Parable of the Householder. In contrast to the traditional interpretation, which deals with the parable simplistically, the correct interpretation deals with the parable in all its subtlety and complexity.
► The owner is the Householder, who represents God.
► The owner’s property is the Householder’s vineyard, which represents the house or home of Israel, just as in Psalm 80[1] and Isaiah 5[2], but a house or home which undergoes a transformation as the relationship between the Householder and its people ceases to be defined by the Old Covenant and starts to be defined by the New Covenant. At first the house or home is a place of stone: Canaan, the Promised Land, at the center of which is the stone city of Jerusalem and the stone Temple in which God dwells. Eventually the house or home is a place of flesh, the New Jerusalem, the City of God which Abraham envisioned, the Bride of Messiah, the bond-servants or bond-slaves of Messiah, in whom God dwells.
► The owner’s crop is the vines, which represent the people of Israel. These people change.
● During the period when their relationship with God is defined by the Old Covenant, they are exclusively Jews (the fruitful and the unfruitful branches of the Cultivated Olive Tree), but
● During the period when their relationship with God is defined by the New Covenant, they are a consolidated group of (a) faithful Jews (the Faithful Remnant of Israel), the fruitful branches in the Cultivated Olive Tree, and (b) faithful Gentiles, the fruitful branches from the Wild Olive Tree, whom God is removing from the Wild Olive Tree and grafting into the Cultivated Olive Tree. Together they constitute the Body of Messiah. Interestingly, Jesus melds the Body of Messiah with Himself by identifying Himself as the true vine (note: not the vineyard) and the members of the Body of Messiah as vines or branches of the true vine. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (KJV John 15:1-6).
► The unfaithful stewards represent the leaders of Israel during the Old Covenant period. They are the chief priests and Pharisees – unfruitful branches which God has pruned from the Cultivated Olive Tree.
► The faithful stewards represent leaders of Israel during the New Covenant period. They are apostles, disciples, pastors, etc. – either fruitful branches from the Cultivated Olive Tree (the Faithful Remnant of Israel) or fruitful branches from the Wild Olive Tree which the Householder has removed from the Wild Olive Tree and grafted into the Cultivated Olive Tree.
Section 7 – The Critical Points
Just as the Cultivated Olive Tree in Romans 11 is Jewish, so the vineyard in the Parable of the Householder is Jewish.
Just as God removes unfruitful branches out of the Cultivated Olive Tree, so he banishes unbelieving Jews from His vineyard. He retains believing Jews who are already there (the Faithful Remnant of Israel) and then He brings in believing Gentiles who were not there. The believing Jews and the believing Gentiles now constitute the Body of Messiah, the Messiah who stated, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” Jesus is the Messiah, and believers in Him constitute the Body of Messiah. Both Jesus and His Body reside in the Father’s vineyard, which is the House of Israel – and “…all Israel shall be saved…” (Romans 11:26).
© 2018 John Holbrook Jr.
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[1] (KJV Psalm 80:1,6).
[2] “…the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant…” (KJV Isaiah 5:7).