Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 3:8
Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
8. meet for repentance ] “Answerable to amendment of life.” ( Margin.)
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Bring forth therefore fruits … – That is, the proper fruits of reformation; the proper evidence that you are sincere. Do not bring your cunning and dissimulation to this work; do not carry your hypocrisy into your professed repentance, but evince your sincerity by forsaking sin, and thus give evidence that this coming to Jordan to be baptized is not an act of dissimulation. No discourse could have been more appropriate or more cutting.
Fruits – Conduct. See Mat 7:16-19.
Meet for repentance – Fit for repentance; appropriate to it the proper expression of repentance.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 3:8
Fruits meet for repentance.
Repentance a fructifying energy. Fruits for repentance
Hear a story, or a parable. In a delightful bit of country, early one summer morning, I walked out to be refreshed by the pure sweet air, the sight of fields and woods, grasses and flowers, beasts and birds, when, presently, I came upon an orchard, into which I entered. The trees were beautiful to behold, the air was fragrant, and fruit was abundant. I wandered on almost enchanted, until, to my great wonder, I came upon a tree having neither bloom nor fruit. I was so painfully impressed that, without any thought of hurting or giving offence, and as to myself, I said, You poor, lost tree, what can you be doing here? I marvel you are not removed. Upon which, to my astonishment, this tree replied, not without tartness, Oh, indeed, sir; indeed! No doubt you think you are wise, wise above your fathers. -You think you know much about things, I dare say, but you are in a great mistake. I am neither poor nor lost. Well, I said, you have neither leaves nor fruit, and, I should judge, no sap. What has that to do with it? it broke out. Your ignorance is inexcusable. You seem not to know that a great Saviour of trees has been down here, and I have believed His gospel, and am saved by grace. I have accepted salvation as a free gift, and, though I have neither leaves nor fruit, I am saved all the same. I looked at it with pity and said, You are a poor deluded tree; you are not saved at all. You are only a dead, good-for-nothing tree, despite all your talk about grace and redemption. The only salvation you can ever know is to be made living and fruit-bearing. Life, that is salvation. When I come and see you laden with fruit, or even showing signs of leaves, I shall say, Ah! that poor tree is saved at last; it has received the gospel and is saved by grace. As I turned away, I heard it saying, You are not sound; you do not understand the gospel. And I thought, so it is, as with trees so with men; they talk as if grace and salvation were something God keeps for them outside themselves, and will not understand nor believe that he who is saved, he who takes Christ fully, and rests on His atoning work alone, is made free from sin, and has his fruit unto holiness. (W. Hubbard.)
Repentance a moulding energy
And it ought not to be a mere partial sorrow; but it should permeate the entire constitution of man. You have most likely seen water falling in drops from a rock. There it is dropping-dropping-dropping, summer and winter, during many a century;-but the rock remains a rock still. There are many who shed tears which seem to be those of repentance, but whose hearts remain as hard as an adamantine rock. Their tears are those out of a rock-a rock that never crumbles. True repentance dodos with man as the furnace with the metal. There is the metal cast into the furnace; and there it is heated and melted so as to be shaped and coined according to will. The whole of man should be completely melted by repentance, so as to be purged of all the cross of sin and be remodelled by the plastic influences of Gods Spirit, and made to bear anew the Divine image. (R. Hughes.)
Repentance a purifying energy,-
Repentance hath a purifying power, and every tear is of a cleansing virtue; but these penitential clouds must be still kept dropping a one shower will not suffice; for repentance is not one single action, but a cause. (Dr. South.)
Repentance fruitful in amendment
Repentance without amendment is like continual pumping in a ship without stopping the leaks. (Palmer.)
Repentance fruitful in restitution
Thomas Olivers was an itinerant cobbler, who spent his time working, carousing, and contracting debts. He congratulated himself on his skill in defrauding his creditors. This reprobate Welshman was at last rescued by Methodism, and became one of Mr. Wesleys itinerant corps. So great had been his wickedness, that his friends thought he must have had some terrible fright, His uncle said to him, Thou hast been so wicked, thou hast seen the devil. His conscience was awakened. Of his old debts he said, I feel as great sorrow and confusion as if I had stolen every sum I owed. He resolved to pay the last cent from money due to him from the estate of one of his kindred. With part of his money, he bought a horse, and started on his memorable journey from town to town, preaching Christ, and paying his debts. He went to Whithurst to pay a sixpence. Before his strange pilgrimage was ended, he paid about seventy debts, and had to sell his horse, saddle, and bridle, to finish his payments. Such fruits of repentance were followed by great religious prosperity and usefulness. (Anon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
You come here and thrust yourselves into a crowd of penitents, but this is not enough, true repentance is not a barren thing; neither are your leaves of external profession a sufficient indication of it, you must bring forth the fruits of holiness, fruits that may answer the nature of true repentance. The proper products of habits are called their fruits; thus we read of the fruit of sin, and the fruit of righteousness.
Fruits meet (answerable to amendment of life)
for repentance are works that are the proper product of repentance, or justly answering an external profession of repentance. As faith, so repentance, without works is dead.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. Bring forth therefore fruitsthetrue reading clearly is “fruit”;
meet for repentancethatis, such fruit as befits a true penitent. John now beinggifted with a knowledge of the human heart, like a true minister ofrighteousness and lover of souls here directs them how to evidenceand carry out their repentance, supposing it genuine; and in thefollowing verses warns them of their danger in case it were not.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Bring forth therefore fruits,…. That is, if you are truly penitent, if you have a proper sense of sin, and true repentance for it, do such works as are suitable to it, and will show the genuineness of it; for
fruits meet for repentance are the same as “works meet for repentance”, Ac 26:20 and as a tree is known by its fruit, so repentance is known by good works; these are the fruits and effects of repentance, and which are proofs with men of the sincerity of it. Those which follow upon evangelical repentance are such as are mentioned in 2Co 7:11. Now let it be observed, that John insisted upon repentance, and a good conversation, attesting the truth of it as necessary prerequisites to the ordinance of baptism; and so Peter first urged repentance; and then proposed baptism, Ac 2:38 from whence one should think it may be rationally and strongly concluded, that none but truly repenting sinners, and such who have given proofs that they are so, are to be admitted to this ordinance.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Fruit worthy of repentance ( ). John demands proof from these men of the new life before he administers baptism to them. “The fruit is not the change of heart, but the acts which result from it” (McNeile). It was a bold deed for John thus to challenge as unworthy the very ones who posed as lights and leaders of the Jewish people. “Any one can do (, Ge 1:11) acts externally good but only a good man can grow a crop of right acts and habits” (Bruce).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Bring forth therefore fruits,” (poiesate oun karpon) “Therefore you all (must) produce fruit,” produce evidence by a change of attitude and conduct of such a nature as to prove you have had an inner-heart change, Mat 7:17.
2) “Meet for repentance:” (aksion tes metanoias) “Worthy of (your claim of) repentance,” or in harmony with and as a trust in Jesus Christ, Act 17:30; 2Co 7:10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Mat 3:8
; Luk 3:8. Yield therefore fruits worthy of repentance. He confirms what I have already said, that the repentance, which is attested by words, is of no value, unless it be proved by the conduct: for it is too important a matter to be estimated lightly, or at random. And so John affirms, that the solemn declaration, which they made, is not enough, but that, in process of time, their works will make it evident, whether or not they have seriously repented. (266) It ought to be observed, that good works ( Titus 3:8) are here called fruits of repentance: for repentance is an inward matter, which has its seat in the heart and soul, but afterwards yields its fruits in a change of life. (267) But as the whole of this part of doctrine has been grievously corrupted by Popery, we must attend to this distinction, that repentance is an inward renewal of the man, which manifests itself in the outward life, as a tree produces its fruit.
(266) “ Si leur repentance est vraye, et si c’est it bon escient qu’ils vienent k luy.” — “If their repentance is true, and if it is in good earnest that they come to him.”
(267) “ Par le changement et amendement de vie;” — “by the change and amendment of life.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) Fruits (better, fruit) meet for repentance.The English version is ambiguous and not happy, suggesting the thought of the fruit as preparing the way for repentance. The thought is, however, by coming to the baptism you profess repentance; bring forth, therefore, fruit worthy of repentancei.e., of a changed heart and will.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
8. Fruits meet John evidently sees the want of a proper prospect of reformation in these men correspondent with the external repentance. Meet Suitable.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance, and think not to say within yourselves, ‘We have Abraham to our father,’ for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”
These words are probably now more generalised. All who are listening to him are therefore to bring forth fruit which is worthy of ‘repentance’, of indicating that their hearts and minds are truly changed (truly repentant) by bringing forth fruit which will indicate that God has rained on them with the water of His word and Spirit (Isa 32:15; Isa 44:1-5; Isa 55:10-11; Eph 5:26; Tit 3:5), as his baptism indicates. Serpents were always looked on as worldly wise (Mat 10:16). That might mean that he saw the purpose of some of these who came to him for baptism as a rather naive way of attempting to obtain blessing without true response.
Nor were they to assume that because they could claim Abraham as their father all would be right. They needed to recognise that being ‘a son of Abraham’ was of no value unless they believed and walked like Abraham. Indeed let them recognise that God could even take the stones that they saw around them, and could turn them into sons of Abraham.
Many Israelites did in fact believe that being a pure-bred son of Abraham would mean that their inheritance in the eternal Kingdom was ensured. And they regularly ensured marriage with similarly minded people in order to preserve their position. John is making quite clear that this was not so. (As a priest’s son he could not be accused of sour grapes, for it meant that his own lineage would be seen as pure). Their hearts had to be genuine, for let them not be in any doubt, God was not restricted in whom He could turn into sons of Abraham. While John probably mainly had in mind the tax-gatherers and sinners, and those of despised trades, the fact that he also welcomed soldiers suggest that he was not averse to including some Gentiles, for local auxiliary soldiers would be mainly local Gentiles.
The idea of a connection with stones may spring from Isa 51:1 where Israel were told to seek the Lord and look to the rock from which they were hewn and the quarry from which they were dug, namely to Abraham their father. Thus Abraham was there seen as a rock from which stones were hewn. This could then be a sarcastic statement that they should recognise the folly of their position. God can produce children to Abraham from any kind of rocks. Coming from Abraham means no more than coming from the rocks around them, unless their hearts are like Abraham’s. Thus being a son of Abraham counts for nothing unless they walk in his ways (compare Gal 3:6-9; Gal 3:29; Romans 4).
He may also have been influenced by the similarity between abnayya (stones) and benayya (children) in Aramaic thus saying sarcastically ‘from these abnayya God can raise up benayya’ (John would be speaking in Aramaic), just as He had previously raised them up from the rock that bore them. And those raised up from the stones would then have the same standing before God, for it was not physical birth from Abraham that counted, it was spiritual birth. It was in a sense prophetic. For God would in future raise up sons to Abraham from among the Gentiles who became his sons through faith (Gal 3:29).
So he makes clear that his baptism will be totally ineffective unless their lives and hearts are changed. Those who would come for baptism must have begun (or have determined to begin) fruit-bearing lives or their baptism will mean nothing.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Having thus unmasked them, the Baptist makes his demand:
v. 8. Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance. An entire change of heart must precede the performing of truly good works, such as measure up to the standard of an honest repentance, as conform to a real amendment of life. John insists upon their producing proper, suitable, sufficient evidence of a true repentance, fruits of a divine flavor, before he can consent to administer Baptism to them. And his further warning is peculiarly fitting in the case of the Pharisees:
v. 9. And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. The fact that they were members, according to the flesh, of God’s chosen people, the fact that they were descendants of Abraham, in a direct line, had ever been the boast of the Pharisees, Joh 8:33-39. But a mere external membership in God’s Church is of no avail. He is a Judge of the hearts and minds and may, on that score, at any time reject them as spurious children. Besides, it would be a small thing for God, out of the very stones of the wilderness, to create for Himself new children, more genuine as to faith than the Pharisees and Sadducees. “We are (said they) God’s people whom He has chosen before all nations on earth, and to whom He has given circumcision; so we have and observe the Law, visit God’s Temple at Jerusalem, and exercise ourselves in the holy service which God Himself has ordered. In short, we go our way in the spiritual and worldly government, as both have been fixed and ordered through Moses by God’s command; are also of the blood and tribe of the holy patriarchs: Abraham is our father, etc. What do we lack that we should not be pious and holy, dear and pleasing to God, and be saved? All this, he says, does not concern the matter. For God is not interested in knowing that you are proficient in boasting much and high concerning the Law, the Temple, the fathers, etc. He wants you to fear Him and to believe His promise, to obey and accept Him whom He has promised to you and now sends. The alternative is that He will reject and exterminate you with all your glory, with which He Himself has endowed and ornamented you before all nations.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 3:8. Fruits meet for repentance That is, “Do such works as may manifest the truth and sincerity of your repentance.” See Act 26:20.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 3:8 . ] Deduction from what precedes. In your impenitent condition you cannot escape from the wrath; proceed then to exhibit that morality of conduct which is appropriate to the change of mind as its result . Instead of your unrepentant condition, I require of you a practical repentance, the hindrance and opposition to which arises from your overweening conceit as children of Abraham (Mat 3:9 ). What John here requires applied, indeed, to the people in general, but was especially appropriate to their scholastic leaders.
is governed by (Act 26:20 ); on , like (occurring likewise in Greek writers), borrowed from fruit-trees, comp. Mat 7:17 f. al.; , Eur. Rhes. 964; . is collective, Gal 5:22 ; Eph 5:9 ; Phi 1:11 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Ver. 8. Bring forth therefore fruits ] q.d. You cannot wash your hands in innocence, wash them therefore in tears: there is no way to quench hell flames but by the tears of true repentance; to prevent the wrath to come, but by bearing those fruits of righteousness that are by Christ Jesus to the glory and praise of God, Phi 1:11 . Optima et aptissima poenitentia est nova vita, The best and most appropiate repentance is a new life, saith Luther; which saying, though condemned by Pope Leo, is certainly an excellent saying.
Meet for repentance ] That weigh just as much as repentance, that may parallel and prove it to be right, evince and evidence it to be a “repentance never to be repented of,” 2Co 7:10 . There is no grace but hath a counterfeit. See therefore that your graces be of the right stamp, an effectual faith, laborious love, patient hope, &c., as the apostle hath it. See that your performances and whole course be such as becomes repentance, and may justify it; as may bear weight in the balance of the sanctuary, and amount to as much as repentance comes to, 1Th 1:3 ; ( ). And albeit your righteousnesses be but as a menstruous clout, and your works at best (if tried by the fire of the word, Isa 64:6 ; 1Co 3:13 ) would burn (which made good Nehemiah,Neh 13:12Neh 13:12 , to pray for pardon of his reformations), yet upon your true repentance for the evil that cleaves to your best works, your souls may be saved from the wrath to come; yea, they are such “as accompany salvation,” and comprehend it, as the Greek Scholiast expounds that text, Heb 6:9 ; ( , i.e. ). Labour, therefore, to have a “heart full of goodness,” as those Romans,Rom 15:14Rom 15:14 , and a life “full of good works,” as Tabitha, Act 9:36 , such as may beseem amendment of life.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
8. ] expresses an inference from their apparent intention of fleeing from the wrath to come: q. d., ‘if you are really so minded,’
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 3:8 . , etc. “If, then, ye are in earnest about escape, produce fruit worthy of repentance; repentance means more than confession and being baptised.” That remark might be applied to all that came, but it contained an innuendo in reference to the Pharisees and Sadducees that they were insincere even now. Honest repentance carries amendment along with it. Amendment is not expected in this case because the repentance is disbelieved in. , collective, as in Gal 5:22 , fruit; the reading in T. R. is probably borrowed from Luk 3:8 . The singular is intrinsically the better word in addressing Pharisees who did good actions, but were not good. Yet John seems to have inculcated reformation in detail (Luk 3:10-14 ). It was Jesus who proclaimed the inwardness of true morality. Fruit: the figure suggests that conduct is the outcome of essential character. Any one can do ( , vide Gen 1:11 ) acts externally good, but only a good man can grow a crop of right acts and habits.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
meet for = worthy of.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
8.] expresses an inference from their apparent intention of fleeing from the wrath to come: q. d., if you are really so minded,
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 3:8. , produce- , worthy fruit) Orige[122] remarks, that in St Matthew worthy fruit is required in the singular number from the Pharisees and Sadducees; whereas, in St Luke, worthy fruits are required in the plural number from the people. I do not myself see what difference it makes in the matter. The singular , fruit, is often used collectively; and in the preaching of St John it may be opposed to barrenness: in the plural number, it implies fecundity. Men are here represented as trees; and the fruit is, therefore, their repentance.- , of repentance) Construe these words with .[123] Thus, in Act 26:20, we read .-, repentance, is an entire change of character,[124] and a renunciation of all that is evil, by which renunciation we wish that evil void or undone.
[122] rigen (born about 186 A.D., died 253 A.D., a Greek father: two-thirds of the N. Test. are quoted in his writings). Ed. Vinc. Delarue, Paris. 1733, 1740, 1759.
[123] Bengel would apparently render the passage thus: worthy fruit of repentance; and so in the passage immediately cited from the Acts, worthy works of repentance. E. V. has, in the one passage, fruits meet for repentance; in the other, works meet for repentance.-(I. B.)
[124] This scarcely expresses the original transmutatio mentis. Ainsworth gives us the first signification of MENS-That part of the rational soul which is the seat of natural parts and acquired virtues.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
forth: Mat 21:28-30, Mat 21:32, Isa 1:16, Isa 1:17, Luk 3:8, Luk 3:10-14, Act 26:20, Rom 2:4-7, 2Co 7:10, 2Co 7:11, 2Pe 1:4-8
fruits: Gal 5:22, Gal 5:23, Eph 5:9, Phi 1:11
meet: etc. or, answerable to amendment of life, Jer 7:3-7, Jer 26:13, Jer 36:3
Reciprocal: Gen 38:26 – And he knew 2Ch 33:15 – he took Job 36:10 – commandeth Isa 5:7 – he looked Eze 14:6 – Repent Eze 18:30 – Repent Dan 4:27 – break Jon 3:2 – preach Jon 3:8 – let Mic 2:7 – named Mic 6:8 – to do Hag 1:8 – and build Zec 1:4 – Turn Mat 7:13 – at Mat 9:13 – but Mat 12:33 – and his fruit good Mat 13:23 – beareth Mat 15:22 – a woman Mat 16:1 – Sadducees Mar 6:12 – preached Act 2:38 – Repent Act 16:30 – brought Tit 2:12 – denying
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
SINS TO BE REPENTED OF
Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.
Mat 3:8
When we use these words we must be careful that we do not mean Bring forth fruits, i.e. do works which would entitle you to receive the grace of repentance, but do works worthy of, or corresponding to, the repentance which you already feel and profess.
Repentance is an impression wrought upon the heart, by the grace of God, whereby, under a deep sense of sin committed against Him, the feelings are changed, the mind sees everything in a new light, and adopts a course the exact opposite to that which it previously was pursuing. What the Bible teaches us is this, that where that root is planted in the heart, it must bring forth fruit to match. There must be something in the life correspondent with the feelings; otherwise, there is no vitality; the repentance is unreal. The effect must be worthy of the cause which produces it.
I. Our own, not other peoples sins.It would be very little good to-day if we were now to consider what may be the sins of other people. It is a very easy kind of repentance to confess the errors of our neighbours. We have nothing to do with that. What we have to do with is our own personal sins.
II. Abuse of money.There is no doubt, that as a people, we have been growing very rich. I believe that the general prosperity of this country is almost, if not quite, unprecedented in the history of the world. But have we rendered back to God according to that which we have received from His hand? Now our charities, our church building, our home and foreign missionshave they kept pace with the immense increase of Englands wealth? Rather, is not the race for money inordinate? And is it not characteristically a selfish and luxurious age? See how lavishly money is spent on fashion and the indulgences of life, and how sparingly it goes into Gods coffers! What tremendous inequality there is between the rich and the poor in this country! How many societies are languishing for want of funds! What a deficiency there is in our great towns of churches and clergy! What is going back to God? Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord.
III. Neglect of Sunday.And as it has been with money, so it has been with time. The seventh part of time, which He, the Great Proprietor of all time, claims in His sovereignty, has not been accorded to Him. Our Sundays have been increasingly violated. The multitude which take their pleasure on the Lords Day, and neglect the assembling of themselves together, is exceeding great. In our large towns, the attendance on public worship is scanty indeed. Yet remember, the Sabbath is Gods property, given us in trust for His glory, and for His creatures sake; and He will never allow it to be taken away. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me.
IV. Our unhappy divisions.And our divisions are very wide. Where does God see His own unity? Is not our own Church of England rent, till the marvel is, how its beautiful net-work can hold together till we reach the shore? We declare our belief in the real eternal oneness of the whole mystical body of Christ,but where is it? In controversy? In harsh judgments, and hard speeches? In separations? In schism?
V. What must we do?How shall we bring forth worthy fruits of repentance? Be very practical. Take care that your religion neither begins nor ends in a feeling or in a service. Amend your own ways. Give God His own. Observe the Lords Day by attendance at the Lords own service. Pray and work for unity.
The Rev. James Vaughan.
Illustration
(1) As the length of the roots of a tree under the ground, so is the width and the breadth of its branches above; and the flavour of the sap may always be detected in the grain. Just so it is to be in that beautiful plant of godly sorrow. There must be a mellowedness and tenderness under it; you must bring forth fruits meet for repentance.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
3:8
Verse 8. Meet for repentance means for them to prove by their works that they have really repented. A mere sorrow or regret for sin does not constitute repentance in the sight of the Lord, but the guilty one is expected to reform his life by ceasing to do the things that were wrong.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 3:8. Bring forth therefore. Therefore, i.e., if you are really fleeing as you profess to be, then bring forth fruit (the singular is found in the original) worthy of repentance (or, your repentance). The fruit or result, worthy of repentance, implies a good tree to produce the fruit. The germ of the great gospel truth: Ye must be born again, since natural birth, or descent from Abraham (Mat 3:9), did not insure the worthy fruit.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 3:8. Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance That is, a change of temper and behaviour, answerable thereto; forsake, as well as confess, your sins, and let the integrity, regularity, holiness, and usefulness of your lives, manifest the sincerity of your repentance. It is a metaphor taken from trees, which discover what quality they are of by the fruits they bear; in allusion to which, pious men are called trees of righteousness, Isa 61:3; and their works, fruits of righteousness, Php 1:11. Let it be observed, further, that as the original word, , here rendered repentance, properly signifies a change of mind, from the approbation and love of sin to an aversion and hatred to it, in consequence of a deep conviction of its evil nature and destructive tendency; (see on Mat 3:2;) so, wherever this is, there will, of course, be an entire reformation of life, a ceasing to do evil, in all respects, according to the knowledge and ability of the penitent, and a learning to do well. Hence it is styled repentance from dead works, Heb 6:1; and repentance unto salvation not to be repented of, 2Co 7:10; that is, such as is not reversed by any voluntary returning or relapsing into our former sins. And, seeing God is unchangeably holy, and must for ever hate all sin with a perfect hatred, it is certain, from his very nature, that he cannot be reconciled to or have communion with the sinner, till a change be wrought in his spirit and conduct, and he cease from the commission of known iniquity. For a change there must be in God or man; and, since Gods nature is immutable, and it cannot be in him, it must of necessity be in man. Now it is evident, both from reason and experience, that confession of sins, a present sorrow for them, and displeasure against them, with a warm resolution to forsake them, are by no means always attended with this change, and, therefore, that these alone cannot be fruits meet for repentance. And O, how necessary was this admonition for the men of that age, who placed their repentance, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, in a mere verbal confession of their sins; and is it not equally necessary for too many of our own age?
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
THE ABRAHAMIC PATERNITY
Mat 3:8-10, and Luk 3:8-10. O the withering denunciations which leaped from the eloquent lips of John, like lightning from the skirts of the clouds! Ye generations of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance; and do not think to say among yourselves, We have father Abraham: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Already, indeed, the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree, not producing good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire. The rank and the of fallen Judaism at that day, like the Moslem millions now, as well as the unbelieving Jews, were depending upon their Abrahamic lineage to save them, pursuant to the infallible promises of Cod to that patriarch and his seed, constituting the Abrahamic Covenant. This is all a fond delusion of the devil, a greased plank, over which he has slidden countless millions into hell. Under the Mohammedan priesthood the barbaric children of Abraham, through Ishmael and Esau, this day expect heaven pursuant to the Abrahamic Covenant. Really there is no Abrahamic Covenant, but it is simply the Covenant of Redemption, which God made with His Son, before Abel died, to save all the faithful in Christ. This identical covenant God reiterated and established with Abraham. (Gal 3:16.) Hence the Abrahamic paternity is not carnal, but spiritual, including all the saved in Christ. (Gal 3:7.) The viper of the Old World is the congener of the rattlesnake in this country. The serpent is the progeny of Satan, having been subsidized by him in the abduction of humanity, and anathematized by the Almighty (Gen 3:14) in his transformation into the groveling, obnoxious, poisonous progeny of the archenemy. Stones here symbolize the flinty hearts of Satan-ridden reprobates, which the Holy Ghost is abundantly competent to transform into the sanctified children of heaven, thus making them the spiritual children of Abraham. The ax symbolizes Divine retribution; the tree, every human being. The whole human race are under a dispensation of grace, whether they have ever heard the gospel trumpet sound a solitary note. A momentous crisis came to the Jews with the ministry of John and his introduction of Jesus. Hitherto they could be saved by the Excarnate Christ, under the ministry of the law and the prophets. Now that He has come in human flesh, they must receive Him, or grieve away the Holy Spirit and take the fatal plunge into reprobacy and damnation. O what a flood-tide, led by those proud Church-rulers, to whom John was preaching this awfully plain truth, did reject Christ and take the horrific plunge into irretrievable woe!
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 8
Fruits meet; conduct suitable to, or consistent with.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
3:8 {3} Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
(3) True repentance is an inward thing which has its seat in the mind and heart.