Luke 10:2
Luke 10:2 (see also Matthew 9:38)
And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
John Calvin comments: “By the metaphor, He means that many of the populace were ready to receive the Gospel.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Matthew, Mark and Luke, Vol. I, p.278, emphasis mine)
Calvin adds: “The burden of such prayer was never greater than in the appalling devastation of the Church, as we see it everywhere today.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Matthew, Mark and Luke, Vol. I, p.278)
Calvin also writes: “For, to stir His disciples up to diligent efforts, Christ declares that the harvest is plenteous, and therefore by implication that their labour will not be in vain but that they will find abundant opportunities for effectual work to undertake.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, A Harmony of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke, Vol. II, p.14, emphasis mine)
Calvinist, James White, writes: “God has ordained the means as well as the ends: the prayer of Luke 10:2 is that the Lord would send out workers into the harvest.” (The Potter’s Freedom, pp.264-265, emphasis mine)
In other words, God has decreed the prayers that line up with a chain of events which sees a predetermined number of “elect” people becoming saved. This matches the Calvinist mantra that prayer doesn’t change anything, but is merely a part of a predetermined chain of events.
White adds: “Obviously, this has nothing to do with with Jesus praying for unbelievers, since, of course, that would require the assumption that none of those gathered around were of the elect.” (The Potter’s Freedom, p.265, emphasis mine)
Question: What does it mean that the “laborers are few”?
Answer: The concern is spoilage, and God cites a lack of interest among believers to deliver the Gospel message, rather than a lack of interest of God in giving saving grace. According to Jesus, pray and ask God to send out more messengers of the Gospel, so that more people could become saved. One preacher once said: “You have three options. 1) You can become a missionary. 2) You can support a missionary. Or, 3) you can repent.” Ultimately, what this verse means to me, is that if there were more people preaching the Gospel, and more people partnering with Missions across the globe, then more people would be getting saved.
Question: What does it mean that the “harvest is plentiful?”
Answer: It means that there is a ripe harvest of lost souls, who could and would be won to the Lord, if only there were enough harvesters available to preach the Gospel to them.
Question: Which “populace”? Just an elect populace or the populace in general?
Question: “Abundant opportunities” because of Irresistible Grace?
Question: So should we assume that this passage means that the Harvest is ripe with “the elect,” but there just aren’t enough people to preach the Gospel so that “the elect” can irresistibly receive it?
Answer: The fact is, that in the parallel passage of Matthew 9:38, v.36 states: “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.” So it’s not an “elect” people, but rather, all Israel indiscriminately.
Question: How do we know that this verse doesn’t simply mean the very thing that Calvinists assume, insomuch that the Lord is simply beseeching the secret group to go out and preach the Gospel to the rest of the secret elect? Isn’t it the Arminians who are assuming that souls are being spoiled for a lack of preachers?
Answer: Arminian aren’t assuming anything beyond the analogy itself. What happens when the grapes are left unpicked? They spoil. What happens when the Gospel isn’t preached. People perish.
