Yet hath he not root in himself. — The “root” is obviously the conviction which ripens into a purpose and strikes its fibres deep down into reason, conscience, and will.
Tribulation or persecution. — It is hardly necessary, or indeed possible, to draw any sharp line of demarcation between the two. “Persecution” implies, perhaps, a more organised attack, and therefore greater suffering; “tribulation,” the thousand petty annoyances to which every convert to the faith of Christ was exposed in the first age of the Church, and to which, it may be added, even now most men and women who seek to be Christians in deed as well as in name are at some time or other in their lives exposed. The words explain the “time of temptation” in St. Luke’s report (Luke 8:13).
By and by he is offended. — The adverb is the same as the “anon” of Matthew 13:20, and means “immediately.” The rapidity of the renegade matches that of the convert. Such a man finds a “stumbling-block” in the sufferings he is called to endure, and turns into a smoother path.