And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
All Commentaries on Mark 4:17 Go To Mark 4
Athanasius the Apostolic
AD 373
Let us, therefore, following the faith of the apostles, hol frequent communion with our Lor. For the worl is like the sea to us, belove, of which it is written, “There go the ships, an Leviathan that you forme to sport in it.” We float upon this sea, like win, with everyone irecting his own course with his own free will. Uner the pilotage of the Wor, one may safely approach the port. But, if possesse by waywar inclinations, one is in peril by storm an may suffer shipwreck. For as in the ocean there are storms an waves, so in the worl there are many afflictions an trials. The unbelieving therefore, “have no root in themselves, but enure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the wor, immeiately they fall away,” just as the Lor sai. They are not likely to enure the complications which arise from afflictions, if they are fixe upon the temporal an not confirme in the faith. Letter, Easter a..
