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Question 5

In discussing the wheat and tares, Bercot insists Jesus foretells apostasy “within the kingdom” rather than total apostasy of “the entire church”; what do you think it would look like in practice to live as “wheat” without pretending the field contains only wheat, and how does that challenge common instincts to write off whole eras or whole communions as “apostate”?

Another way to ask: What would it look like to live as “wheat” while admitting there are also “tares” in the same field? How does that challenge the habit of calling whole time periods or whole churches “apostate”?

Direct Answer In Bercot’s framework, living as “wheat” means staying faithful to Jesus’ kingdom teachings while accepting that true and false will coexist visibly in the kingdom until the end. This challenges the instinct to dismiss whole centuries or whole communions as totally apostate, because Jesus’ parable assumes the wheat remains present throughout.

Support from Transcript:

He interprets Matthew 13 to mean “the kingdom would continue on unabated,” though “weeds would be sown among the good seed.”
He explicitly rejects the total-collapse model: “not that the entire church would go apostate… the wheat would always be there.”
The parable’s instruction is not panic-purging: “Let both grow together until the harvest,” implying patience and discernment rather than declaring the whole field lost.
He applies the same idea to the dragnet: “unclean fish among the clean fish,” separated “at the end of the age.”
He argues history matches this: “that is indeed exactly what history shows happened,” suggesting continuity with mixture.

Discussion Follow-ups What practices help you pursue holiness without needing to prove your group is the only “real church”? How might this parable change the way you speak about Christians in traditions you strongly disagree with?

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