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Mark 4:12

That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

All Commentaries on Mark 4:12 Go To Mark 4

Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

Jesus did not ordinarily assume that his teaching would remain hidden. He expected it to be proclaimed openly in every direction. Yet it is possible, in defensive circumstances, to utter something openly and yet veiled at the same time. Something may be said not strictly in secret, but in a secret way. Note that it was not in secret that Jesus said “they may indeed see but not perceive.” If this had not been spoken openly, there would have been no sense to the phrase “not seeing.” The same hearer may not perceive the level on which something is spoken openly, yet on another level secretly understood. The very things which his detractors had heard without understanding were such as could not with justice or truth be turned into a criminal charge against him. As often as they tried by their questions to find something by which to accuse him, he gave them such replies as utterly confounded all their plots and left no ground for the calumnies they devised.

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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20