What is the Matthew effect?

"And He answering said to them, Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of the Heavens, but to them it is not given." The disciples, representing believers, were to understand the mysteries coming in now while the nation who had refused the light would be in darkness. "For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall be caused to be in abundance. But he who has not, even what he has shall be taken away from him." The disciples had received the Lord and He gave them more, while Israel had not, they rejected Christ and so what they had still as His earthly people was to be taken away from them. But this two-edged sword cuts in another way. The principle our Lord here utters is still active. The true believers composing the church have, and by and by we shall be caused to be in abundance, while an apostate Christendom which has not shall lose even what it boasts to have.

The disciples now come and say unto Him, "Why speakest Thou unto them in parables?" and the Lord makes it an occasion to explain these things unto them. "He answered and said unto them, Because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." The same parable would be just like the cloud of Israel in a former day — full of light to those within, full of obscurity to those without. Thus it is with the sayings of our Lord. So solemn was the crisis with unbelieving Israel now, that it was not His intention to give clearer light. Conscience was gone. They had the Lord in their midst, bringing in full light, and He was refused, especially by the religious leaders. He had now broken with them: here was the clue to His conduct. "To you it is given to know," etc. It was kept from the multitude, and this because they had already rejected the clearest possible proofs that Jesus was the Messiah of God. But, as He says here, "Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance." Such was the case with the disciples. They had already received His person, and now the Lord would supply with truth to lead them on. "But whosoever hath not" (the Christ-rejecting Israel), "from him shall be taken away even that he hath" — the Lord's bodily presence and the evidence of miracle would soon pass away. "Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing, see not; and hearing, they hear not; neither do they understand" (ver. 13). That judicial sentence of darkness which Isaiah had pronounced upon them hundreds of years before, was now to be sealed, though the Holy Ghost still gives them a fresh testimony. And this very passage is afterwards quoted to mark that it is a finished thing with Israel. They loved darkness rather than light. What is the good of a light to one that shuts his eyes? Therefore would the light be taken away too. "But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them: and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them" (vers. 16, 17).

The principle of verse 12 may appear to be startling: the one who already had would be given more: he who had nothing would only lose what he appeared to have. By speaking in parables the Lord was giving in such a way that only faith could receive it. Unbelievers could understand easily the literal things of which He spoke, yet they did not really understand: though seeing, they did not perceive. Honesty would certainly recognize that the Lord was saying more than appeared on the surface, and true concern of faith would desire to understand, and therefore inquire. But inquiring would be an admission of ignorance, and the blindness of men's pride kept them from this.

In verse 12 the Lord says, "For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath". To understand this verse we must view these people in the place of privilege in which God had set them nationally; as such they had something which the Gentiles had not, but they did not possess this new thing which Christ was opening out. The result was they were as a nation about to lose the original standing they had before God, but those who had received Jesus as their Messiah were about to be introduced into the realm of the kingdom of heaven in its heavenly character. To them was given the ability of which we have spoken.

Those to whom "more is given "are those who hear, as it is expressed in the A.V. This "hearing" implies a reception of the new teaching in the truest and deepest sense of the word, receiving the testimony as of God (John 3:34; 1 Thess. 2:13). Such persons are the good-ground and fruit-bearing hearers. These enter into possession of the word. They make it their own by faith. They have it. And the Lord added, "He that has, to him shall be given; and he that has not, from him shall be taken away even that which he has." Was not this so with the wayside hearer? The good seed was immediately snatched away, since it lay upon the surface. In a formal sense this class of hearer had the word; in a vital sense he had it not.

Again, "He said to them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you [that hear] shall more be added. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath." It is still responsibility in the service and testimony of the Lord. We must take heed, then, what we hear: for what we receive, we are bound to communicate. Want of value for the treasure of God, want of confidence in His grace, reaps its own bitter harvest. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you; and unto you shall more be added." Such is the special connection here. Those only possess who give out in grace, and such shall receive yet more abundantly; while they who have not in reality, shall lose even the show they have.46 ["That hear"], as A and later copies, 1, 33, 69, Syr. Arm. Edd. omit, with ℵBCDLΔ, Old Latin, Memph.

244 - 9, 23, et seq. Hearing is receiving, and what we receive we receive for communication in love. We are answerable according to the measure of what we hear, which is God's measure towards us, and, accordingly, it being given for communication in love, our faithfulness and love is tried by the comparison of what we receive and give. We are unjust towards God and man, if we are not, in life and word, witnesses of whatever grace has been dealt to us. Moreover, whoever has this faithfulness in receiving, increase shall be added to him - confided. "It shall be measured to you." Hence grace, in the parable, is rested on use of the talent without other authority, and so indeed here, the moment I have heard grace receives the word, and, being grace, understands it in grace, as a light lit up in the person, it is true, but to give light; see 2 Cor. 4:6, where the expression is very clear. It depends on our really having it, the sense of the grace, in our souls, its real value to ourselves, and our understanding of it as grace, i.e., our understanding and having it at all. And thus, he that has, and he only really has grace communicated who communicates in grace, "To him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath." This was true of the Jews who had the oracles, etc., but who indeed had them not, for they did not recognise Him of whom they were conversant. But to the disciples who had, all the glory of the Holy Ghost dispensation of Christ glorified would be given. From the Jewish rulers would be taken away even that which they had. This was a new principle, that what was given was, in its nature, communicative, for it was grace and light, and therefore impelled, and diffused itself, which was not true of Judaism; but, as to them even, what they had, but had not, would be taken away; and there cannot be a more important principle, and as essentially characterising Christian responsibility and grace in this dispensation, and knowledge of, and communion with, the mind of Christ who came as this Light. The love of Christ constraineth us, and, withal, that in spite of opposition, for we also believe and therefore speak. Therefore it is "Take heed what ye hear; with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you." The Lord will deal according to your dealing in this. Such are the principles of confided ministry. If man meddles to authorise, he meddles with the responsibility of grace to Christ, though he may encourage, own, and be blessed and bless, and labour in according to his place, and "To him that hath shall be given: and from him that hath not shall be taken away that which he hath."

Now that is the first part of this book, the first division. That, I believe, is the lesson that is pressed home in all the wisdom and in all the goodness of God, as He has put it before us with instance after instance. The lesson that is pressed upon us is, if you do not go forward, you will go backward; if you are not making progress, you are going behind; if you are not entering upon what God has given you in His word, you are losing what you already have; or, as you have it in the New Testament, "To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have." Surely, thanks be to the grace of God, not absolutely and finally, but, as to our enjoyment of it, we are deprived of our own. Do you not think of illustrations of it? Can you not take portions of your own history for confirmation of this, — when you have not been pressing forward, have you not been going backward? In your own heart's history, each day of your life you re-enact the history of Israel's progress or decline.

Now that is the first part of this book, the first division. That, I believe, is the lesson that is pressed home in all the wisdom and in all the goodness of God, as He has put it before us with instance after instance. The lesson that is pressed upon us is, if you do not go forward, you will go backward; if you are not making progress, you are going behind; if you are not entering upon what God has given you in His word, you are losing what you already have; or, as you have it in the New Testament, To him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have. Surely, thanks be to the grace of God, not absolutely and finally, but, as to our enjoyment of it, we are deprived of our own. Do you not think of illustrations of it? Can you not take portions of your own history for confirmation of thiswhen you have not been pressing forward, have you not been going backward? In your own heart's history, each day of your life you re-enact the history of Israel's progress or decline.

Suppose we have but one talent, every day's believing use of it will carry us on some way towards two. We are not shut up within the limits of God's first gift. We may shut ourselves up; and by hiding our talent in the earth, both lose what we have and the capacity for gaining more. For the rule is, "to him that hath" ― in the way of increase ― "shall more be given; but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away."