Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 7:16
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
16. thorns ] The Greek word means, probably, a kind of acacia, or perhaps “thistles.” There is a Greek proverb , “no thistles,” i. e. “nothing useless.”
thistles ] Rather, caltrop, a prickly water-plant.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye shall know them by their fruits – The Saviour gives the proper test of their character. People do not judge of a tree by its leaves, or bark, or flowers, but by the fruit which it bears. The flowers may be beautiful and fragrant, the foliage thick and green; but these are merely ornamental. It is the fruit that is of chief service to man; and he forms his opinion of the nature and value of the tree by that fruit. So of pretensions to religion. The profession may be fair; but the conduct – the fruit – is to determine the nature of the principles.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 7:16-20
Know them by their fruits.
Utility the test of truth
The two criteria on which men most chiefly rest for the guidance of their religious opinions would here be of no avail; authority would be claimed by the prophet; and private judgment might possibly lead his votaries astray. Both these useful, but require caution. Let us get a clear conception of the notion of utility as a criterion. It is an acknowledged fact that every human action and word is followed inevitably by certain consequences, which are good or bad. Those acts which produce happiness are useful; those which do not are injurious. We must extend our notion of happiness beyond the ancient conception of it. Christianity has made happiness in worldly good things alone impossible. It must now include peace with God. This a criterion which cannot be mistaken. Apply this test.
I. As an argument for Christianity in the widest sense of the word. When Christianity appeared in the world, Roman civilization had practically failed. The privilege of Roman citizenship had done much-had kindled a feeling of community of interest; but needed a higher sanction. The Incarnation taught men brotherhood; nations which possess this truth have the principle of vitality.
II. Let us apply this test to our English Christianity. Doubtless there are physical reasons which make the English race so strong; but also moral, latent in our Christianity.
III. As an argument supplying to us each practical reasons for following in our conduct that line of duty, which conscience tells us to be right. It is a solemn thought that we can be like a good tree or a bad one. It is the uses of a man which determine his status before God. (J. T. Coxhead, M. A.)
The test of true religion
I. The rule laid down by Christ in the text is infallible in character and universal in application. It is true in the natural world as in the spiritual.
II. By their fruits ye shall know them.
1. This test is a reasonable one.
2. It is a sensible one.
3. It is a simple one.
4. It is a just one.
5. It is a sure one.
6. It is one which men apply continually in judging of each others conduct.
7. It is one which the Judge will apply on the final day. (J. N. Sherwood, D. D.)
The standard of good and evil
I. That there is a standard of good and evil.
1. It is fixed.
2. It is just.
3. It is evidenced by experience.
4. It is knowable.
5. It is practical.
II. By this standard God will judge.
1. Men cannot plead ignorance, it being written in the hearts of those who have not the Scriptures.
2. Judgment will not be according to profession.
3. Nor with respect of persons.
4. Conscience approves these principles.
5. The Holy Spirit will, if we ask, teach us the will of God.
III. By this standard Christians are to judge.
1. False prophets must needs be, they are foretold, and are busy perverting the truth.
2. We must judge them by the Word of God. (Flavel Cook.)
The moral influence of doubting
I. Doubt loosens the moral hold of the principle of the Bible upon our personal obedience.
II. The position of antagonism into which doubting throws a man is, in itself, unfavourable to growth in moral virtue.
III. Doubt presents no incentive to holiness like that which Christianity offers. (Bishop Cheney.)
The test of the fruitage
We do not usually connect fruitbearing with children. This is a mistake. Notice three things.
I. What one flavour should there be in all fruits? Many different flavours in fruits, yet there is something common to them which makes us approve of them all. This may be applied to children. There are many varieties of disposition, but we can call all children good, if we can detect in them the flavour of godliness-Christlikeness. That is just the wonderful, beautiful thing about the Lord Jesus; He can he a model for all-for the young and for the old.
II. What peculiarities of flavour should there be in childrens fruits? Unselfishness, thoughtfulness, truthfulness, gentleness. These flavours are to be found in our words and in our deeds.
III. What is the secret which accounts for the best flavoured and most abundant fruitage? For even in fruits of one kind of flavour, we find differences, From me is thy fruit found-the Lord Jesus, the life. (R. Tuck, B. A.)
Good fruits the test of principle
I. The persons whom our lord directs us to shun.
1. Their deception.
2. Their artifice.
3. Their end.
II. The satisfactory and equitable test by which they are to be ascertained, Of this rule we remark
(1) that it is infallible;
(2) it is easily comprehended;
(3) it is of universal application-to personal religion and doctrine, etc.;
(4) it will apply to the several views of Christianity which are propagated in the world. (J. E. Good.)
The false and the true
I. That action, and not appearance, is the test that determines the genuineness of religion.
II. The announcement of the law of moral certainties-A good tree cannot, etc.
III. That mere sincerity is not salvation.
`IV. Christ and His gospel are mans only security. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Figs or thistles?
It has pleased God to make every tree and herb after its kind. There are three reasons for this:-
1. That people may know what to expect.
2. That diligent work may be rewarded.
3. That great results may be caused to grow out of small beginnings.
4. We reap what we sow. (E. R. Colder, D. D.)
Ravening wolves
Conduct indicates character.
I. As illustrated by the well-known comparison which is here employed.
II. In reference to the special characters which are here described.
1. Their office.
2. Their outward aspect-sanctimonious.
3. Their evil designs. Inwardly they were ravening wolves.
III. In its general application.
1. This is the only true standard by which to judge either ourselves or others. Profession, feelings, are deceptive.
2. According to this rule the decisions of the great day will be regulated. (Expository Outlines.)
The effects of the Bible
1. Upon the laws of nations.
2. Upon the liberty of nations.
3. Upon the morality of nations.
4. Upon the charity of nations.
5. Upon the literature of nations.
6. Upon the acts of nations.
7. Upon social life and domestic relationships.
8. Upon individuals. Thus judged by its fruits it is a good book. (J. H. Hitchens.)
Christian known by their fruits
Not by our acquired knowledge, or fancied experience, or creed; but by fruits.
I. The primary and immediate design of our Lord in the declaration before us. This text connected with the preceding (vers. 15-20)-Wherefore. The greater part of the Sermon on the Mount was designed to rectify the errors of the Pharisees.
1. The false prophets whom our Lord condemns were guilty of lowering the standard of moral duty by explaining away the spirituality and extent of the law, and reducing the whole of human obedience to a few unimportant ceremonies.
2. They frustrate the free grace of the gospel by insisting on the meritoriousness of human obedience. Thus did the Judaising teachers in Corinth, Galatia, and Ephesus.
II. The practical nature of Christianity as a decisive proof of its divinity.
1. The influence of genuine Christianity is always practically holy.
2. Let the actual results of the influence of Christianity upon the world be examined, and it will be found that they are uniformly of a holy and felicitating character. (J. Savill.)
But who expect to gather grapes of thorns and figs of thistles
I. The man who expects to obtain happiness without a holy life.
II. The man who expects to obtain a holy life without a renewed heart.
III. The man who expects to obtain a renewed heart without faith in evangelical truth. (R. Halley, D. D.)
Thistle seed.
There is a schoolboy, yawning over his lesson. He sits with his books before him, but he is not working. If we ask him why, he says, Oh, I hate Latin! Well, perhaps you like arithmetic better? Oh no, I hate doing sums. Well, do you like geography? Oh no, I hate geography worst of all. The real truth is, he hates work. He is sowing thistles; and by and by, when his school-days are over, the prickles will sting him, and the empty, useless seed be a plague in his neighbours fields. (E. R. Conder, D. D.)
Grace seen in conduct
The apples appear when the sap is not seen. It is the operative and lively graces that will discover themselves. A man may think well, or speak well; but it is that grace which governeth his actions which most showeth itself. (T. Manton, D. D.)
It is all very fine to plead, as some have done, that they are doing inside work; if their fruit is all within, they will have to be cut down that it-may be got at. A true epistle of Christ is not written in invisible ink, and then sealed up, but it is known and read of all men. A tree of the Lords right hand planting bears fruit to His glory, visible to all about him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Christian fruitful in a barren scene
Those who travel through deserts would often be at a loss for water, if certain indications, which the hand of Providence has marked oat, did not serve to guide them to a supply. The secret wells are for the most part discoverable from the verdure which is nourished by their presence. So the fruitfulness of good works of the believer, amidst the deadness and sterility around him, proclaim the Christians life. (Salter.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. Ye shall know them by their fruits.] Fruits, in the Scripture and Jewish phraseology, are taken for works of any kind. “A man’s works,” says one, “are the tongue of his heart, and tell honestly whether he is inwardly corrupt or pure.” By these works you may distinguish () these ravenous wolves from true pastors. The judgment formed of a man by his general conduct is a safe one: if the judgment be not favourable to the person, that is his fault, as you have your opinion of him from his works, i.e. the confession of his own heart.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
A proper effect discovereth the cause. Lest his disciples should ask, How shall we distinguish true from false teachers? Our Saviour tells them, By their fruits ye shall know them. Our Saviour sends not his disciples to inquire into the truth of their mission, whether that more internal from God, of which they could not judge, or more external from men, who may err, and send out those whom God never sent; but you shall know them (saith our Saviour) by their faithful or unfaithful discharge of their duty: if they be true teachers, by their discharging the ministry in a faithful revelation of the mind and will of God, or by their holy life, living as ensamples to the flock; by their fruits of true doctrine and a holy life, by the discharge of their ministry in good conscience; for it is with men as it is with the trees, good trees bring forth good fruit, corrupt trees bring forth evil fruit. If men have the root of the matter; the seed of God abiding in them, they will in every relation bring forth the fruits of truth and holiness: if they have not, they will bring forth error and wickedness. From whence we may learn, that our Lord expecteth from his people such a knowledge of the Scriptures, as that they may be able to discern truth from falsehood; and such a diligence, as to search the Scriptures, whether those things which their teachers deliver to them be according to them or not, Act 17:11; not taking divine truths upon trust, nor believing any thing because dictated by teachers, using their teachers not as dictators, but only as helpers of their faith.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. Ye shall know them by theirfruitsnot their doctrinesas many of the elder interpretersand some later ones explain itfor that corresponds to the treeitself; but the practical effect of their teaching, which is theproper fruit of the tree.
Do men gather grapes ofthornsany kind of prickly plant.
or figs of thistles?athree-pronged variety. The general sense is obviousEvery treebears its own fruit.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye shall know them by their fruits,…. By “fruits” are meant, not so much their external works in life and conversation; for a false prophet may so behave, as not to be discovered thereby. So the Pharisees were outwardly righteous before men; and false teachers among Christians may have the form of godliness, and keep it up, though they are strangers to, and even deny the power of it: but their doctrines are here meant, and the effects of them. When doctrines are contrary to the perfections of God, repugnant to the Scriptures of truth, tend to depreciate the person and offices, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ, to lessen the glory of God’s grace, to exalt the creature, and to fill men’s minds with notions of the purity, self-sufficiency, and ability of human nature; when they are calculated to feed the pride and vanity of men, to get money, and gain applause, to serve their own interests, and gratify men’s lusts and passions, they may be easily discerned who they are, and from whence they come. The Jews have a proverb pretty much like this u, , “a gourd is known by its branches”. The gloss upon it is,
“it is, as if it was said, from the time it buds forth, and goes out of the branch, it is known whether it is good or not;”
i.e. the goodness of the gourd is known by the fruit its branches bear. So a good preacher is known by the good doctrine he brings, and a bad one, by his unsound doctrine. Christ is not speaking of these false prophets, as men, or as private professors of religion, but as prophets, or teachers. “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” Grapes and figs were common fruit; there was great plenty of them in Judea; we often read of the “gathering” of them. It is a matter in dispute with the doctors w,
“if a man intends , “to gather figs, and he gathers grapes”, black ones, and he gathers white ones, white ones, and he gathers black ones, whether he is guilty of a sin offering or not.”
One says he is, another says he is not. These words of Christ put me in mind of another passage, which seems to speak of grapes of thorns x;
“he that marries his daughter to a scholar, it is like to grapes of the vine, with grapes of the vine, a thing beautiful and acceptable; but he that marries his daughter to a plebeian, it is like to grapes of the vine,
, “with grapes of the thorn”, a thing ugly, and unacceptable.”
Though , in the last sentence, must be taken for berries which grow on some thorn bushes, and not what are properly grapes; for grapes do not grow upon, and are not to be gathered from thorns, and bramble bushes. The meaning of our Lord is, that from the false doctrines of men comes no good fruit of faith, holiness, joy, peace, and comfort. Their doctrines are like “thorns”, which prick and pierce, give pain and uneasiness; and, like “thistles”, choke, and are unprofitable, afford no solid food and nourishment; yea, their words eat as do a canker, are contrary to vital religion and powerful godliness. This sense I prefer; because, on the one hand, it is possible for a false teacher to do works, which may be externally good; though indeed no good works, properly speaking, can be performed by an unregenerate man, because he has neither good principles to act from, nor good ends in view: and, on the other hand, a man who is destitute of the grace of God, and lives ill, may yet have right notions of the Gospel, though he has no experimental knowledge and relish of it; but where false doctrines are imbibed, and propagated, no good fruit can follow upon it.
u T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 48. 1. w T. Bab. Ceritot, fol. 19. 1, 2. & 20. 1. x T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 49. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
By their fruits ye shall know them ( ). From their fruits you will recognize them.” The verb “know ” () has added, fully know. The illustrations from the trees and vines have many parallels in ancient writers.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Ye shall know [] . The compound verb indicates full knowledge. Character is satisfactorily tested by its fruits.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Ye shall know them by their fruits.” (apo ton karpon auton epignosesthe) “You all will, know them from their fruit,” from their attitude, what they say, and still more by what they do, Rom 16:17-18; Mt :8,10; Gal 5:22. Their work is devious, under cover, like wild canines that sneak in at night time, called “greedy-dogs,” Isa 56:11.
2) “Do men gather grapes of thorns,” (meti sullegousin apo akanthon staphulas) “They do not gather or harvest grapes from thorns,” from thorn bushes, do they? 2Ti 3:5. As the fruit is evidence of the nature or kind of tree, so ones moral, ethical, and spiritual behavior tells what he is, Luk 6:43-44.
3) “Or figs of thistles?” (e apo tribolon suka) “Or figs from thistles, do they?” The moral state of man is reflected in what he says and what he does, Mat 12:37; These “thorn and thistle”-bearing false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing, are recognized by their fruit, as described aptly and at length 2Pe 2:1-3; 2Pe 2:10-22 and by Jud 1:4; Jud 1:8-13; Jud 1:16; Jud 1:19.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
16. From their fruits you shall know them Had not this mark of distinction been added, we might have called in question the authority of all teachers without exception. If there is a mortal danger to be dreaded in teachers, and if we see no way of avoiding it, we shall be under the necessity of holding them all suspected: and there will be no better or shorter method than to keep our ears shut against them all. We see that ungodly men, to screen themselves when rejecting every kind of doctrine, hold out this danger, and that weak and ill-informed persons remain in a state of perplexity. That our reverence for the Gospel, and for its faithful ministers and teachers, may not be diminished, Christ enjoins us to form our opinion of the false prophets from their fruits It is with a very bad grace that the Papists, in order to excite hatred against us, quote directly this exhortation of Christ, Beware of false prophets, and by their clamors induce ignorant people to avoid us, without knowing why. But whoever desires to follow our Lord’s advice must judge wisely and with just discretion. For ourselves, we not only acknowledge freely that men ought to beware of false prophets, but we carefully and earnestly exhort simple people to beware of them. Only we warn them that, agreeably to the rule which Christ has laid down, they should first make a strict examination, that simple people may not reject the pure Word of God, and suffer the punishment of their own rashness. There is a wide difference between wise caution and perverse squeamishness. (476) It is a heinous wickedness in the Papists to repeal the command of Christ, by infusing into unhappy persons an unfounded dread, (477) which deters them from making inquiry. Let this be regarded by us as a first principl that those who tremblingly reject or avoid a doctrine unknown to them, act improperly, and are very far from obeying the command of Christ.
It now remains to be seen, what are the fruits which Christ points out. Those who confine them to the life are, in my opinion, mistaken. As pretended sanctity, and I know not what masks belonging to greater austerity of life, are frequently held out by some of the worst impostors, this would be a very uncertain test. Their hypocrisy, I do own, is at length discovered; for nothing is more difficult than to counterfeit virtue. But Christ did not intend to submit his doctrine to a decision so unjust in itself, and so liable to be misunderstood, as to have it estimated by the life of men. Under the fruits the manner of teaching is itself included, and indeed holds the chief place: for Christ proves that he was sent by God from this consideration, that
“
he seeketh not his own glory, but the glory of the Father who sent him,” (Joh 7:18.)
Is it objected, that few persons are endued with such acuteness, as to distinguish good fruits from bad? I answer, as I have already said: Believers are never deprived of the Spirit of wisdom, where his assistance is needful, provided they distrust themselves, renounce their own judgment, and give themselves up wholly to his direction. Let us remember, however, that all doctrines must be brought to the Word of God as the standard, and that, in judging of false prophets, the rule of faith holds the chief place. We must also consider what God enjoins on his prophets and the ministers of his word: for in this way their faithfulness may be easily ascertained. If, for example, we place before our minds what Paul requires in bishops, (1Ti 3:1; Titus 1:6-9,) that description will be sufficient of itself to condemn the whole mass of Popery: for the Popish priests seem as if they purposely intended to present an opposite picture. There is no reason to wonder, therefore, if they forbid men to form a judgment of false prophets. But this passage clearly shows, that their titles ought to go for nothing, and that not much regard ought to be had even to their calling, if those who receive the name of pastors, and are called to the office of teachers, do not faithfully answer to their charge.
Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? By these proverbs, which were then in common use and universally received, Christ confirms his statement, that no man can be deceived by false prophets, unless he is wilfully blind: for the fruits as plainly discover upright servants of God, and unfaithful workmen, as the fruits point out the nature of the tree.
(476) “ Il y a grande difference entre une bonne facon de se donner garde d’estre trompe, et un deboutement temeraire sans savoir pourquoy.” — “There is a great difference between a proper method of guarding against being deceived, and a hasty rejection without knowing, why.”
(477) “ Par une vaine crainte, qu’ils leur proposent;” — “by a vain dread which they hold out to them.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) Ye shall know them by their fruits.The question, What are the fruits? is not directly answered. Those who attach most importance to the ethical side of religion, see in them the practical outcome of doctrine in life, character, and deeds. Others, who live in a constant dread of heresy, dwell on doctrines rather than acts as the fruits by which we are to discern the false teachers and the true. Good works, they say, may be but the sheeps clothing that hides the heretic wolf. The analogy of Scriptural language, and even of that of most theologians, the familiar phrases which speak of good works as the fruits of faith and the like, are, it is believed, entirely in favour of the former view. Still more decisive are the fruits meet for repentance of Mat. 3:8. We are to judge of the teaching of those who claim authority by the test of the measure in which, in the long-run, it promotes purity, peace, and holiness.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Know them It is all important for us to know them, and hence a plain test is given. Their fruits Their own actions and the moral tendency of their doctrines.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
a Do men gather grapes of thorns,
a Or figs of thistles?
b Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit,
c But the corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.
d A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
c Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
b Every tree which does not bring forth good fruit,
b Is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
a Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Jesus then emphasises the kind that He is speaking about. They reveal their falseness by their lives and by their teaching. Thus they are not only like wolves dressed up as sheep, they are like thorns which give the impression of bearing grapes, or thistles which give the impression of bearing figs. They put up a great pretence and make a great show and seem to be offering so much. But on a closer look it is seen to be a sham. They offer much, only in the end to bring disappointment and even discomfort. From a distance the small black berries of the buckthorn can look like grapes, and certain spiky bushes can give the impression of bearing figs. But Jesus’ point is that once people get closer instead of gathering fruit, all they gather is thorns in their hands. The fruit of the bushes will reveal them for what they are. The same description of thorns and thistles is found in Gen 3:18 (the same Greek words are used in LXX). Possibly Jesus therefore expects His hearers here to remember the Garden of Eden and gather from it whose influence lies behind these false teachers (compare 2Co 11:13-15).
Jesus then turns their attention to trees. All agriculturalists know the difference between a good and a bad tree. One produces good, healthy fruit. The other produces fruit of a kind, but it is not pleasant to eat, because there is something wrong with the tree (compare Isa 5:1-7). However carefully nurtured it has been, it has turned out to be ‘corrupt’. And it will never produce good fruit. So the sensible tree farmer cuts it down so that it will cease taking the goodness from the ground, and then he burns it. He uses it for what it is good for, fuel. And then it is gone. In the same way false teachers will be known by their fruit, whether it be the fruit of false doctrine or the fruit of false motives. And they must recognise that one day they too will be ‘burned’.
But Jesus’ carefully selected words bring out the fuller truth. Because the tree was ‘corrupt’ and therefore ‘useless for its real purpose’ it produced ‘evil (poneros) fruit’. The application has become a part of the illustration. The evil that comes forth from it reveals the evil that is in its heart (Mat 15:11; Mar 7:15; Mar 7:20-23). Here ‘evil’ has its deepest meaning of something so hateful in the sight of God that it is rejected (contrast the use in Mat 7:11 where the idea was of a root of sin in man that could be dealt with in mercy). Like the broad way it leads to destruction.
For Mat 7:19 compare Mat 3:10. Jesus may well have heard these words on John’s lips, and here He confirms His full agreement with them. But Jesus greater detail confirms that we have here genuine teaching of Jesus.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The principle of testing false teachers and all frauds:
v. 16. Ye shall know them by their fruits: Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?
v. 17. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
v. 18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. A significant point: Not only may the disciples of Christ distinguish these false teachers for themselves, but the Lord expects them to know them thoroughly, to understand them by making a study of their methods and their way of life. Christians are able, they have the sacred duty, to try the spirits, to examine and test the doctrine which is offered to them. They have an infallible rule, the teaching of Christ, the Word of Truth. According to this criterion, this standard, they should judge not only the doctrine, but also the works of the false teachers, which are here called their fruits. Men never think of collecting grapes from thorns or figs from thistles. They are not deceived by false resemblances, just as the botanist will tell at a glance the poisonous variety of berry or mushroom from the good. But even where so much botanical knowledge is not found, the good, the sound, healthy tree is readily distinguished from the unhealthy, the degenerate tree, standing in bad soil, or no longer fruitful on account of age. All these trees and plants bear in accordance with their nature, this test never fails. “As we perfectly know that a good tree will not produce bad fruit, and the bad tree will not, cannot produce good fruit, so we know that the profession of godliness, while the life is ungodly, is imposture, hypocrisy, and deceit.”
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 7:16-20. Ye shall know them by their fruits That is, by the evil tendency of their doctrines, as well as by the immorality of their lives. Compare 1Jn 4:1. 1Co 13:3. What follows seems to be a kind of proverb, and there occur in heathen authors many similar sayings. Several commentators are of opinion, that the fruits here referred to are rather the nature and tendency of the doctrine, than the actions of the false teacher’s lives; but I rather think that our Lord here spoke of actions, which are often called fruits. Compare ch. Mat 3:8 Mat 21:43. Joh 15:2; Joh 15:5. Col 1:6 and see 2Ti 3:5; 2Ti 3:9. It will be objected, that bad men may teach good doctrines, and the worst have been known to do it in some instances. But to this I answer, that our Lord does not exhort his disciples to reject whatever such men taught; but only to be upon their guard against them, that they might not credit any thing merely on their authority.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 7:16-18 . .] Ye will know them, not ye should (Luther).
The are the results of principles, as seen in the whole behaviour , the works (Mat 7:21 ; Mat 7:23 ; Mat 12:33 ), not the doctrines (Jerome, Calvin, Calovius).
. ] Thorns and thistles occur together in a corresponding figurative sense in Heb 6:8 .
] application of those images to the false prophets, in such a way, however, that the latter, in keeping with . . . (comp. Mat 7:20 ), just before, appear again as trees .
A is, as contrasted with the , a sound, healthy tree; for a is not some tree of an inferior species, but one whose organism is decaying with age, etc., rotten , the of which (Plat. Rep . p. 609 E; Diosc. i. 113), owing to a defective and corrupted state of the sap, admits of nothing in the way of fruit but what is bad, small, and useless. Comp. , Job 41:19 . , Dem. 615. 11. “Bonitas arboris ipsius est veritas et lux interna, etc.; bonitas fructuum est sanctitas vitae. Si fructus essent in doctrina positi, nullus orthodoxus damnari posset,” Bengel. With the of the corrupt tree, comp. Rom 8:7 f. In this emphatic lies the progressive force of the simile.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
The Hearing Ear
Preparation for Hearing The Manner of Preaching Doers Not Hearers Only
Prayer
Almighty God, do thou touch our ear and it shall hear wisely and justly, and shall lose nothing of all the music of thy voice. Our ear is already filled with vulgar noise, so that we cannot hear the goings of the Almighty, and much of the tenderness of thy tone do we lose, because of the uproar which engages our attention. O that our ear might be touched, even circumcised, and blest, and prepared to hear every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Call us now to attention; may every man here listen for his soul’s good; if any have come to listen for aught else may the change take place in the view this moment, and may the supreme inquiry of every heart be, “What saith the Lord?” and may every soul go out to him saying, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” Yea, let a spirit of hearing fall upon the whole congregation, an earnest desire to listen, so that nothing may be lost of all the message which thou dost this night give unto us. We bless thee for thy gospel, so full of tenderness, glowing with light and love, the very utterance of thine heart, the one way to the living God and his everlasting heaven. Help us to listen to it gratefully, with ecstasy of delight and passion of thankfulness, without indifference of heart, but with all ardour and intensity of love.
Regard every one of us as each most particularly needs. If any man here is praying his first true prayer, let this be the time of a great answer to his soul. If any man here is vowing to lead a better life, Lord, turn over the page for him on which he means to write his better writing; establish him in the goodness of his oath; may nothing occur to imperil the constancy of his holy resolution, but may he watch unto prayer, and succeed in the great work. If any man is in peculiar circumstances of perplexity and strangeness, blind so that he cannot see, weak so that he cannot stand, dazed and confounded by the infinite rush of life, the Lord himself send his angel or his prophet to give sight, and strength, and comfort, and guidance to such. If any of us are fat of heart, having waxed prosperous and forgotten our early love, the Lord judge us not with his lightning and thunder, but speak to us with rebukes that shall awaken, and not with judgments that shall destroy. If any man is planning the wrong trick and about to play the foul game, and to do the thing which is hateful in the sight of God, the Lord turn his counsel upside down, and cause all the lines of his life to tremble in confusion. And if any man is endeavouring now to serve the Lord with his whole might, to live a complete and unbroken life in Christ, send more than twelve legions of angels to help him to carry out his purpose.
We want the spirit of hearing now, we want the prepared ear, we want our hearts to be at peace, and our whole attention to be on the alert. Blessed Christ, come to us, speak thine own word to our quickened ear. We bless thee for thy life, thy teaching, thy atoning sacrificial blood, thy whole priesthood, thy mighty, prevalent mediation. O, if thou dost open thy wounds again, may it be to give us room in thine heart Amen.
Text: “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.” Mar 7:16
This is a common expression in the Scriptures. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” The text says, “If any man have ears.” All men have ears, but that is not the meaning of this particular text. He must not only have ears, he must have ears to hear, ears that can hear, and that do hear. It is not enough to have the sense of hearing, it must be put into exercise, and it must be kept at the highest point of attention. Many persons have ears who never hear anything worth hearing. You cannot hear unless you listen. If you were in earnest you would listen are you? Do not leave all the work upon the preacher: meet him half-way, give him your attention, and he cannot fail; his message is such as to protect him from failure, but he cannot do many mighty works among you if you shut the door of your ear. Take a thousand men listening to a sermon; probably not one in ten hears the sermon as the preacher meant it to be heard. Every man hears a voice, a sound, a noise he hears one sentence following another; but that inner music which seeks the soul in its loneliness, to heal it with the love and hope of God, who hears in its ineffable meaning and its sweet benediction! Nor is this much to be wondered at. Consider how the ear has been treated all the week. Do not condemn the ear unheard. Let it plead its own cause, and it will mitigate the harshness of our judgment. “All the week long,” says the ear, “I have heard nothing throughout the day but the clang of money, the tumult of bargaining, the uproar of commerce, the clamour of selfish controversy; and at night I have heard nothing but gossip, and twaddle, and childish remarks on childish topics I cannot easily liberate myself from these degradations, and listen to words most ghostly and to gospels that seem to come from other worlds. Have patience with me, for I need awakening first out of an entangled and troubled dream.” Verily there is sense in that fair speech; then it should have due weight. But the sense of the speech imposes a corresponding responsibility upon the speaker. We should prepare ourselves to hear the Divine voice. The reader of an immortal play asks, and asks in reason, that the audience should be seated ten minutes before the reading begins. It is a sensible stipulation. Shall I be unjust if I ask that my friends should be an hour with God before coming to hear the public proclamation of his word? Is it decent that we should wait on Shakespeare and leave the Eternal to wait on us? The ear should have a little prayer all its own. I will teach it one: “Lord, still the waves that are heaving and foaming in me, or I shall miss all that is tenderest in the music of thy voice. Quiet the mean noises which fill me with a worldly din, and let me hear the words, every one of them, which will bless the life. Circumcise me: yea, put thy sharp knife upon me, thou God of the circumcision, and make me hear. Then speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” There would be no poor sermons if we came thus; we should be all ATTENTION. As a matter of fact, how does the case stand? What was the last word you spoke at the door? Some mean word about the cold wind, some poor little narrow word of criticism upon a neighbour’s reputation, some childish remark upon a puerile topic, chaffer and chatter, and hollowness, and nothing, and then rushing in you sing, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.” It cannot be done; such miracles are beyond your power. Can you be draggling your wings in the mud this moment, and in the flash of an eye spreading them out in the sun? Then say not that the age of miracles is past! I cannot do it. I must have time. I must think and pray, and then the banquet is always more than enough, abundant to redundance, the lavish generosity of God!
That I am not speaking unjustly of the ear, I may refer to your own proverb, “Believe nothing you hear.” Why? Because you do not hear it. The first man did not hear it: he twisted it; in passing through his corkscrew hearing, the straight line got a twist, and he never can straighten it out. So it has come down to him a marvellous story, a wondrous narrative of self-contradiction, utter and palpable absurdity. Then men say, “I thought he said so and so; I understood him to mean thus and thus; O, I beg pardon, I did not catch then what he said.” And out of such foul springs do the streams of conversation rise, carrying their mud with them all through the acreage of our social economy. Thus we tell lies without lying; we are carriers of falsehood, though we never mean to be untrue. How is this? Because we do not hear. The ear is preoccupied; invisible speakers are addressing it, lovers unseen are soliciting its attention, or it is asleep or on a journey, or under a spell. Hardly a man in this congregation can listen. It takes a Judge to listen. How the Judges do listen! We are buying and selling all the time the man is preaching; yea, we are doing a little business in the middle of his prayer! To listen who can do it? God knew this, and therefore again and again he says, “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.” Who would attempt to deliver a message to a man asleep, or propose to speak to a man a mile off? There are men in this house who are just now three thousand miles away!
Many a message has been lost because the speaker has not first roused the attention of his hearers. There is a man standing a little averted from you his back is partly towards you he is engaged in doing something, and you say, “Bring me three volumes of the ‘Family Magazine,’ John.” He hears his own name at last, and says, “Sir?” Poor rhetorician thou! That was beginning at the wrong end. You should have said, “JOHN! Bring me three volumes of the ‘Family Magazine’ out of the library.” “Yes, sir.” See? Is that in the Bible? Every word of it as to purpose and philosophy. How does God speak? First, attention. “Moses, Moses,” and he said, “Here am I.” “Samuel, Samuel.” “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.” “O earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord.” There is a science herein; study it, speaker and hearer.
The first thing to be done is to compel the ear to listen for the right thing. When I enter the house of God, it is to hear the word of God. If I went to hear a professional elocutionist I should go to judge of the balance of his voice; I should look out for the colouring of his tones; I should measure the velocity and the weight of his articulation; I should make an elocutionary study of the man. But in going to hear God’s preacher, I go to hear God’s word, how I may be saved, redeemed, purified, and fitted for Divine uses in this world. I want to hear how I may get home again after many weary wanderings in stony places; I want to hear what Christ said about sin, and pain, and woe, and want, and pardon; I want to hear about those who have gone up, who cares for them, what do they, how near are they; I want to hear about the secret place where the light is pure and the rest is without shock, or pain, or dream. My soul being alive with expectation and aflame with hope, God will not disappoint it, or he will expunge from his own book the sweet promise ‘Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.”
It is said that the manner of the speaker has a good deal to do with the attention of the hearer. That is true, but an earnest hearer will care very little about the manner if he is deeply interested in the matter itself. Just look at that company of men, and listen to that person with a long paper standing at the head of the table. He seems to have chronic bronchitis. How he chammers his words, how hoarsely he utters his sentences, how poor his enunciation! he calls a bush a bash, and a foot a fut. Listen to him and see how the people are all on the qui vive . What is the matter? He is reading a WILL, and every man in the company expects to get something. How choice they are about the elocution! They say to one another, “Rather a bad manner, don’t you think? His manner is much against him, don’t you think?” No, no. “What is there for me? and how much for me?” and they would go twenty times a day to hear that wheezy, asthmatic, non-elocutionist read a WILL, if they had any hope of getting anything out of it. Now I have a will; hear it: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” That is your portion. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” That is yours. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Claim your inheritance and enjoy it! “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” Take it all. Have you heard the will? Claim your property!
You say that manner has a good deal to do with speaking. So it has. Let me remind you that manner has a good deal to do with hearing. Our Saviour is reported in the Gospel of Luke to have said, “Take heed, therefore, how ye hear.” There is an art of hearing; attention is not without a science of its own. Hear for eternity, hear for your soul’s good. Do you want to hear the gospel now? Then you shall. “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” You hear that? “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth from all sin.” “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come.” Hear ye these words, or do they fall upon the cold ears of a dead soul? If you have heard these words you never can say again, long as you live, that you never heard the gospel!
Yes, there is a manner of hearing. Some persons listen captiously they go for the purpose, express, of finding fault and showing their own cleverness in pointing out the fault which they suppose they have found. “These are spots in your feasts of charity.” Some listen critically. They will make a man an offender for a word. They will dwell upon non-essential points: they prefer the pleasure-ground of art to the entangled forests of nature, out of which you cut the navies of the world. “These are clouds without water.” Some listen indifferently: they care not what is said, or who says it: the preacher sheds his blood in vain for them they see not nor heed the living sacrifice; they know not what the passion costs. “These are trees twice dead,” and will be “plucked up by the roots.”
When I was at Niagara I could not get a drink of water out of the cascade, not because there was so little water, but because there was so much. It is the worst place in the world to go for a glass of water, is the torrent of Niagara; it will drown both you and your glass! If there had been less, I could have got more. It is even so with some discourses. You do not get the benefit of them at the time, but down the river of the week, as far as about Wednesday, you can stoop and drink the quiet stream; the water that was shattered into foam by its infinite plunge is now healed and calmed like a redeemed life, and a mile down you may see your face reflected in the water that was snow a day since, silver foam making rainbows round the rocks now it falls and quiets itself into a stream which makes glad the city of your life. The torrents of Chalmers are even now settling into quiet streams which many people are drinking with thankful gladness. Even as far down the Time-river as this, the torrents of puritan eloquence and theology are only just flowing at pace enough to be caught and used for the soul’s drinking. Wondrous is this. Jesus Christ’s speeches dazed the people at the time; they said, “He is mad;” and now these speeches, having taken their plunge like the Niagara cascade, are streams that make glad the city of God.
“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.” “Take heed how ye hear.”
“Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man.” Have you heard these things? If you say, “Yes, every word,” then “Be ye DOERS of the word, and not hearers only.”
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Ver. 16. Ye shall know them by their fruits ] That is, chiefly by their doctrines, which tend either to the infecting of the judgment with error or tainting of the life with uncleanness, or both; and commonly both, as those ancient heretics, whose pernicious, or, as other copies read, lascivious, ways many followed; by reason of whom the way of truth was evil spoken of ( ), 2Pe 2:2 . St Austin observeth, that in the loose and lascivious heretics, many foul mouthed men met with matter of blaspheming the name of Christ, because they also would needs be held Christians. And Epiphanius adds, that for their sakes many heathens would not so much as have any conversation with Christians, or hear them speak. a Who hath not heard what a stumblingblock and obstacle to the conversion of the Jews, is the idolatry of the Papists and the blasphemies of other Christians? By their fruits they know such persons not to be of God, as their predecessors argued of our Saviour: “This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day,” Joh 9:16 . The proposition here was sound, had they not mistook themselves in the assumption, “He that keepeth not the sabbath is not of God.” We may also safely reason in like sort. Such and such deny or question principles, as the Anti-trinitarians, Arians, Eutychians, and others not a few in the primitive Church, so pestered with arch-heretics, that it was then, as Erasmus hath it, a noble thing to be a Christian. Had these been of God, they would have hearkened to his word, Joh 8:47 , which is plain in principles, and commandeth to hate false heterodox opinions, Psa 119:104 , and those that broach them, buzzing doubts in men’s heads, Rom 16:17 ; Joh 10:5 . That heretic confuted by Junius took an ungainly course for his own satisfaction, who confessed that he had spent two-and-twenty years in trying religions. He had been with Jews, Arians, Mahometans, and such sects; that at length he might find truth among them, which is, as he saith, Viam per avia quaerere, to seek truth by wandering through all sorts of errors. b But truth, 1. is divine, grounded upon the Scriptures; wherein we have a most sure word, as Peter hath it; and self-sufficient, saith Paul, for instruction in righteousness, to make the man of God perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. So that it is impossible God’s elect should be finally deceived,2Pe 1:192Pe 1:19 ; 2Ti 3:16-17 ; though for a time they may be fearfully miscarried, as the young prophet was by the old Bethelite. and Barnabas by Peter, because they are all taught of God,Isa 30:21Isa 30:21 ; they have an unction within them, Mat 24:24 , the Holy Ghost that enlighteneth both the organ and the object, Joh 7:17 ; Joh 2:20 ; Job 22:28 ; and so teacheth them all things, that they understand the Scriptures, and grow to a certainty, Psa 19:7 ; Pro 1:4 . All Christ’s sheep are rational, and will not follow a stranger, Joh 10:5 ; though they are simple to evil, yet they are wise to that which is good. If they be of any standing, and worth their years, as we say, they have a full assurance of understanding,Col 2:2Col 2:2 ; Col 2:7 , and they are rooted and established in the faith, and in the present truth,2Pe 1:122Pe 1:12 . So that, though man or angel should object against it, yet they would not yield to him,Gal 1:8-9Gal 1:8-9 . For he that is spiritual discerneth all things, as having the mind of Christ, 1Co 2:16 ; a spirit of discerning, and senses exercised to differentiate good from evil,Heb 5:14Heb 5:14 ; being able to give a reason of that he believeth, 1Pe 3:15 , to perform a reasonable service, even the obedience of faith, Rom 12:1 ; Rom 16:26 ; whence floweth and followeth rest to his soul, Jer 6:16 , and abundant consolation, Col 2:2 . Say he cannot answer all the cavils of an adversary, yet he can hold the conclusion; and though he cannot dispute, yet he can die, as that martyr said, in defence of the truth, whereof he is fully persuaded in his own mind,Rom 14:5Rom 14:5 , bottomed upon Scriptures, and ballasted therewith, as St Ambrose saith the bee is with a little stone, that she be not blown away with the wind. c Secondly, truth is single, one and the same, at agreement with itself. But error is manifold, dissonant, and contradictory to itself. How often doth Bellarmine deny that in one place that he had affirmed in another! That the Scripture is the very word of God, saith he, can by no means be assured out of Scripture. But in another discourse, forgetting what he had said, he affirmeth, that among other arguments of the divinity of the Scriptures, there is sufficient proof to be had out of the Scriptures themselves. So he cannot bethink himself, if you will believe him, where in all holy writ there is any promise made of pardon of sins to such as confess them to God. d Again, he teacheth that the substance of the bread in the sacrament is not turned into the substance of Christ’s body productive, as one thing is made of another; but that the bread goes away, and Christ’s body cometh into the room of it adductive, as one thing succeeds into the place of another, the first being voided. And this, saith he, is the opinion of the Church of Rome, himself being reader of controversies at Rome. But Suarez, reader at Salamanca in Spain, confutes Bellarmine’s opinion, terming it translocation, not transubstantiation; and saith it is not the Church’s opinion. So the greatest Popish clerks cannot determine how the saints know our hearts and prayers; whether by hearing, or seeing, or presence everywhere, or by God’s relating or revealing men’s prayers and need unto them. All which ways some of them hold as possible or probable, and others deny them, and confute them as untrue. Thus these great master builders are confounded in their language, and thus hard it is to know what the Church malignant holdeth; her own dearest and learnedest sons know not, God having delivered them up to the efficacy of error, which frets as a gangrene, and spreads as leaven, scouring the whole lump,2Th 2:112Th 2:11 ; 2Ti 2:17 . Look how the heathens were at a mere uncertainty in their opinions and devotions; as the mariners in Jonah prayed to their several gods, and bade him do likewise. Others of them usually closed up their prayers with Diique, Deaeque, omnes, All gods and goddesses, lest haply they might mistake in any one. So are heretics. Having once stepped over the pale of truth, they know not where or when they shall stop or stay, but run on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived,2Ti 3:132Ti 3:13 . Bertius and Barret, of Aminians became professed Papists; which differ no more, saith a learned man, than the Stoics of old did from the Cynics, by the wearing of their cloaks only. If the Lutherans admit to universal grace, the Huberians will thereupon bring in universal election, the Puccians natural faith, the Naturalists (as that Cistercian monster lately imprisoned at London did) will explode Christ and the Scriptures. A pestilent sect there was not long since in Arragon, whose founders were a hypocritical crew of their priests, who affecting in themselves and their followers a certain angelic purity, fell suddenly to the very counterpoint of justifying bestiality. These called themselves illuminati, as if they only had been in the light, and all the world besides in darkness. So besides the Gnostics, who held themselves to be the only knowing men, the Manichees derived their name of manna, because that whatsoever they taught was to be taken as food from heaven. Irenaeus tells us of some that counted their own writings to be gospels. And the family of love set out their Evangelium regni, Gospel of the kingdom. e Anabaptists brag much of their enthusiasms; and the Jesuits vaunt that the Church is the soul of the world, the clergy of the Church, and they of clergy; and yet for their wickedness, though a man, saith one, should declaim against them, till all the sand of the sea had run through his hour glass, he could not possibly want matter. Can there any grapes be gathered of these thorns, any figs of these thistles? f Our Saviour makes use of these common proverbs to prove that this is so plain a truth, that none can be ignorant of it, if he have but his eyes in his head, or do not wink wilfully, as those qui ut liberius peccent, libenter ignorant, who are willingly ignorant, that they may sin without control.
a Ne accedunt quidem nos ad communionem accipiendae doctrinae-nec aures admovent. Epiphanius.
b Mihi certe Auxentius nunquam aliud quam diabolus erit, quia Arianus, ait Hiliarius: qui etiam vocavit Constantium, Antichristum.
c Aeris motus suspectos habet et lapillis saepe sublatis per inania se librat nubila; ne leve alarum remigium praecipitent flabra ventorum. Ambr.
d Praeter argumenta alia, etiam habetur ex Seriptura ipsa. Promissio de remittendis peccatis eis qui confitentur Deo non videtur ulla extare in divinis literis. Bellarm. de Justif.
e Dixerunt in Anabaptistarum Ecclesia nullum impium inveniri, omnes sanctos esse. Scultet. Annul.
f The French have a berry which they name Uve de spine, the grape of a thorn. But this was a rare commodity. Ber.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
16. ] The are both their corrupt doctrines and their vicious practices, as contrasted with the outward shews of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, their sheep’s clothing to deceive. ‘Qurimus fructus caritatis, invenimus spinas dissentionis.’ Aug [89] Enarr. in Psa 149:1 , 2, vol. iv. pt. ii. See Jas 3:12 ; ch. Mat 12:33-34 .
[89] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo , 395 430
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 7:16-20 . An enlargement in parabolic fashion on the principle of testing by fruit .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 7:16 . . . By the nature of the case difficult to detect, but discernible from their fruit . . Ye shall know them through and through ( ) if ye study carefully the outcome of their whole way of life.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 7:16 . , do they perhaps, suggesting doubt where there is none = men never do collect, or think of collecting, grapes from thorns or figs from thistles. And yet the idea is not absurd. There were thorns with grape-like fruit, and thistles with heads like figs (Holtz., H.C.). But in the natural sphere these resemblances never deceived; men saw at a glance how the matter stood.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Ye shall know. Note the Figure of speech Epanadiplosis (App-6). See Mat 7:20.
know = fully know and recognize. See App-132.
by = from. Gr apo.
Do men, &c. Figure of speech Erotesis, for emphasis.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
16.] The are both their corrupt doctrines and their vicious practices, as contrasted with the outward shews of almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, their sheeps clothing to deceive. Qurimus fructus caritatis, invenimus spinas dissentionis. Aug[89] Enarr. in Psa 149:1, 2, vol. iv. pt. ii. See Jam 3:12; ch. Mat 12:33-34.
[89] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395-430
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 7:16. [326] , …, from their fruits, etc.) This declaration is solemnly repeated at Mat 7:20.-, fruits) The fruit is that, which a man like a tree puts forth, from the good or evil disposition which pervades the whole of his inward being. Learning, compiled from every quarter, and combined with language, does not constitute fruit; which consists of all that which the teacher puts forth from his heart, in his language and conduct, as something flowing from his inner being, like milk, which the mother gives from her own breast: see ch. Mat 12:33-35. This is the true force of , produces, in Mat 7:17-19 : cf. Mat 7:21; Mat 7:23-24; Mat 7:26. It is not his speech alone which constitutes the true or the false prophet, but his whole method of leading[327] himself, and others with him, by the one or the other road or gate to life or death (see ch. Mat 15:14; Mat 15:13); whence it arises that doing and saying are closely connected in ch. Mat 5:10. The fruits indeed are the tokens (Gnorismata) or evidence of the truth or falsehood of the prophet, and therefore also of the doctrine set forth by the prophet. The doctrine, therefore, is not the fruit by which the prophet is known; but it is the form of the true or false prophet which constitutes him the one or the other, and is itself known from its fruit. The goodness of the tree itself is truth and inward light, etc; the goodness of the fruit is holiness of life. If the fruit consisted in doctrine, no orthodox teacher could be damned or be the cause of anothers destruction.-See Schomer,[328] Theol. Moral. p. 252.- , of thorns) although their berries resemble grapes, as the heads of thistles do figs. In Luk 6:44 the same comparison is differently turned, for , the thorn, and , the bramble, are very closely allied. The grape therefore () is denied to each of them. Certain thorns () also have large shoots:[329] figs therefore can be denied to them as well as to thistles.
[326] However the margin of Ed. ii. of N. Test, more readily allows the omission of this particle than the larger edition.-E. B.
[327] See Mat 7:14, leadeth.-ED.
[328] JUSTUS CHRISTOPHER SCHOMER, a celebrated Lutheran divine, was born at Lubeck in 1648, and died in 1693, professor of Theology at Rostock. In 1690 he published his celebrated work, Theologia Moralis sibi constans, quoted in the text.-(I. B.)
[329] i.e.-resembling figs in some measure.-(I. B.)
Bab Hil. 1245 read : but c Lucif. ex, Vulg. a.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
shall: Mat 7:20, Mat 12:33, 2Pe 2:10-18, Jud 1:10 -19
Do: Luk 6:43-45, Jam 3:12
Reciprocal: Gen 1:11 – fruit 1Sa 24:13 – Wickedness Psa 36:1 – The transgression Pro 20:11 – General Pro 31:31 – of the 2Co 11:15 – whose Heb 12:15 – any root 1Jo 2:29 – that every 1Jo 4:1 – believe not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7:16
Know Mem by their fruits. The wolf would soon show his true character by his ravenous attack upon the unsuspecting sheep. A thorn bush or thistle will finally prove itself to be such by bearing thorns instead of fruit.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
[By their fruits ye shall know them.] That is a proverb not unlike it. A gourd, a gourd, is known by its branch.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 7:16. By their fruits ye shall know them. This order is more emphatic. This common figure is carried out in detail in Mat 7:17-19.
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? The fruits most highly prized in the East. From teachers we are to look for valuable fruit; but false teachers can only bear after their kind (Mat 7:17-18), they are thorns and thistles. The productions of the bushes here named are said to resemble slightly the fruits spoken of in each case; the harsh spirit of the false teachers has been compared to the sharpness of the thorns, and their proselyting spirit to the adhesive quality of the thistle. The main point is, however, the impossibility of getting good fruit from fruitless and forbidding plants.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 16
Fruits; their conduct, and the effects of their preaching. The meaning is, that to expect that devout and holy lives would be produced by false religious teaching, is like looking for grapes to grow upon a thorn bush. The universal truth of this criterion has been proved by the experience of the Christian world for eighteen centuries, and the test is now as certain as ever.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Fruit in the natural world, as well as metaphorically, represents what the plant or person produces. It is what other people see that leads them to conclude something about the nature and identity of what bears the fruit. Fruit is the best indicator of this nature. In false teachers, fruit represents their doctrines and deeds (cf. Jer 23:9-15). Jesus said His disciples would be able to recognize false prophets by their fruit: their teachings and their actions. Sometimes the true character of a person remains hidden for some time. People regard their good works as an indication of righteous character. However eventually the true nature of the person becomes apparent, and it becomes clear that one’s apparently good fruit was destructive.
Prophets true to God’s Word would produce righteous conduct, but false prophets who disregarded God’s Word would produce unrighteous conduct (Mat 7:17).
A poisonous plant will yield poisonous fruit. It cannot produce healthful fruit. Likewise a good tree, such as an apple tree, bears good, nutritious fruit (Mat 7:18). The bad fruit may look good, but it is bad nonetheless (Mat 7:16). A false prophet can only produce bad works even though his works may appear good superficially or temporarily.
Some interpreters of this passage take Jesus’ teaching farther than He went with it. They say it is impossible for a genuine believer to do bad works. This cannot be true in view of the hundreds of commands, exhortations, and warnings that Jesus and the prophets and apostles gave to believers in both Testaments. It is possible for a believer to do bad works (e.g., Mat 16:23; Tit 2:11-13; Tit 3:8; 1Jn 1:9). That they will not is the teaching of sinless perfection. Other interpreters say that some bad works are inevitable for the believer, but bad works will not habitually characterize the life of a true believer. This quickly turns into a question of how many bad works, which the New Testament does not answer. Rather the New Testament writers present some people who have departed from God’s will for a long time as believers (e.g., 1Ti 1:20; 2Ti 2:17-18). The point Jesus was making in Mat 7:18 was simply that false prophets do what is bad, and people who follow God faithfully typically do what is good. How disciples of Jesus live was very important to Him.
The end of every tree that does not bear good fruit is the fire (Mat 7:19). Likewise the false prophet who does bad works, even though they look good, suffers destructive judgment (cf. Mat 3:10).
The words and works of a prophet eventually reveal his true character just as surely as the fruit of a tree reveals its identity (Mat 7:20). Of these two criteria, words and works, works are the more reliable indicator of character.
Jesus was evidently dealing with typical false prophets in this section. He did not go into the case of a believer who deliberately distorts God’s Word. Typically a false prophet rejects God’s Word because he is an unbeliever. However even in the Old Testament there were a few true prophets who lied about God’s Word (e.g., 1Ki 13:18).