Matthew 13:12 teaches that spiritual openness brings more understanding, while a closed heart loses even what it appears to have. Jesus is explaining why he speaks in parables: people who are willing to receive his teaching are given more of it, and those who refuse slowly lose what they once had. The words come in the middle of Matthew’s account of the parables, spoken by Jesus to his disciples after they ask him why he teaches the crowds in stories.
For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.
Matthew 13:12 (WEB)
What Matthew 13:12 Means
The verse begins with “whoever has,” which describes a person who already has some measure of openness, interest, or response to what Jesus is saying. To that person, “it will be given,” meaning more understanding and more of the Kingdom’s mysteries will follow. The promise is abundance, a word that points to fullness rather than a bare minimum.
The second half is a warning written in the same plain grammar. Whoever “doesn’t have,” meaning whoever has no receptive heart, will lose even the little that seemed to be theirs. The verse does not say God randomly takes things away. It describes how a hardened hearing dulls over time until the truth that once reached a person no longer registers.
What the verse does not promise is a reward for sophisticated knowledge or a fixed status for the spiritually confident. It describes a pattern of response. Openness invites more, and resistance shrinks what a person can receive.
The Context of Matthew 13:12
Matthew’s Gospel was written to a community that knew Jewish scripture well, and it presents Jesus as the one who teaches with authority. Chapter 13 gathers several parables about the Kingdom of Heaven, including the sower, the wheat and the weeds, and the mustard seed. Verse 12 sits at the turning point where the disciples ask why Jesus speaks in parables at all.
Just before the verse, Jesus says that the disciples have been given the mysteries of the Kingdom while others have not. Just after, he quotes Isaiah about people whose hearts have grown dull. Read this way, verse 12 is not a freestanding rule about money or success. It explains why Jesus uses stories: they draw out those who are listening and leave hardened hearers puzzled, which is itself a sign of where each heart stands.
Key Phrases in Matthew 13:12
Mark 4:24
He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you who hear.
(WEB)
Jesus warns the listeners to take care what they hear, and says that the measure they use will be used for them. It echoes the principle in Matthew 13:12 that the way we receive God’s word shapes what we receive in return.
Proverbs 1:5
That the wise man may hear, and increase in learning; that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsel…
(WEB)
This verse describes the wise person who listens and adds to their learning. It fills out the picture of openness that Matthew 13:12 describes, showing that a willing heart keeps growing in understanding.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 13:12
Lord, you have spoken through your Son in stories that open the hearts of those who listen and leave others puzzled. Make my heart soft and ready to receive what you are saying to me today. Where I have grown dull, awaken my attention, and where I have closed myself off, give me the courage to open again. Let whatever understanding I have grow into something fuller because I am willing to keep listening. Amen.
