8:11 “Now the parable means 1 this: The seed is the word of God. 8:12 Those along the path are the ones who have heard; then the devil 2 comes and takes away the word 3 from their hearts, so that they may not believe 4 and be saved.
1 tn Grk “is,” but in this context it is clearly giving an explanation of the parable.
2 sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for the devil here: Matt 13:19 has “the evil one,” while Mark 4:15 has “Satan.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.
3 sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.
4 tn The participle πιστεύσαντες (pisteusante") has been translated as a finite verb here. It may be regarded as an adverbial participle of attendant circumstance. From a logical standpoint the negative must govern both the participle and the finite verb.