But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God
The type of ground, typifying the heart, the good ground was the only that Jesus said the word [gospel] landed upon, and it understandteth it
Matt 13:23
23 But he that received seed into
the good ground is he that heareth the word,
and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Understand with the heart
Jn 12:40
He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes,
nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
This is vitally important and speaks to the need of the New Heart before Faith in the Gospel, because the Natural man, he that is only born of the flesh, born of a woman, cannot and does not understand the things of the kingdom of God, which the Gospel is
Matt 24:14.
This we know from such scriptures as
Rom 1:31
31
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Eph 4:18
Having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
This word phrase understanding darkened darkened in the greek is in the perfect tense and passive voice, in other words this does not change at all unless man is brought into another condition, namely new birth ! Because until then, we remain alienated from the life of God!
So in all this we discover why the natural man has no understanding by nature of God and spiritual matters, because again , by nature we are void of Life to God ! So consequently, the heart or ground in
Matt 13:23 that received the word of the Kingdom, must be a Heart with the Life of God in it, which speaks of New Birth, Regeneration or having been born of God ! Unless this [New Birth] has occurred,
1 Cor 2:14 remains True of us all ! If we deny this , we are showing ourselves wiser than God and what has been written in the sacred volume !