Luke 6:43 - 45
43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. v43 - We just were told not to judge people's hearts, but now, here is a recipe for doing so. What's up?
2. v45 - Aren't we all evil people?
https://hartmangroupdevotions.blogspot.com/2015/03/matthew-715-20-15-watch-out-for-false.html?zx=6d4d55508620537b says:
ReplyDelete(1) The first category of the fruits of the false prophet is their doctrine. They do not proclaim or defend God’s word, but deny it.
(2) The second category of the fruits of the false prophets is the effect of their teaching in the lives of men. Invariably it leads to a rejection of God’s word, a rejection of biblical authority, a division among the saints and a life of sensuality.
(3) Finally, there is the fruit of the false teachers as evidenced in their own moral character. They are easily distinguished by their pride, their greed and immorality.
https://hartmangroupdevotions.blogspot.com/2015/03/matthew-715-20-15-watch-out-for-false.html?zx=6d4d55508620537b continued:
ReplyDelete------
My 2 cents:
The fruit off a false prophet is their teaching or their "prophecies". Whether we should judge people as false prophets is a more subtle question.
Before, I claimed that, in contrary to what pretty much everyone was saying, that when Jesus said do not judge, He meant that we should never judge people's hearts. (Others claim that we can't judge unless we aren't hypocrites - which I claim is impossible). What I did say is that we can and must judge the fruit that comes from people - a subtle difference.
If one of us, say in our small group, bears some bad fruit, it is incumbent on the other group members to confront that bad fruit. The way we do that is to question the person without passing judgment. We judge the fruit not the person.
The same goes for potential false prophets. Whenever anyone speaks to us, we need to judge their words for their adherence to God's Word (or to the Holy Spirit who teaches us). Whenever we hear something that doesn't seem to match up, we need to question that person on what they meant and give them a chance to clarify. If we judge their clarification to be outside the word of God, we need to recognize that their fruit is bad.
Now here's the more subtle part. Jesus just said that if the fruit is bad the tree is also. So did we just judge a person? I say there still is a difference. It may end up being almost the same thing. We judged a person's fruit. Jesus says that that person is bad. Can we conclude that the person is bad?
In the beginning of Matthew 7, Jesus said, "Do not judge", and then went on to talk about the speck and plank in our own eyes. I believe that Jesus is telling us something similar to "do not condemn". (I don't think the word condemn covers it though, though will use that word now to describe the kind of judging that I believe that Jesus is talking about). I have went on to say that the whole section is about that kind of judging (and even went on to hypothesize that Jesus words about the speck and the plank was to make us aware of the problem with condemnation and not a suggestion that we actually have the power to remove stuff from our eyes and see clearly).
Now we come to some verses about false prophets. We clearly are to discern whether someone is a false prophet. (And there are many other verses in the Bible that tells us to discern things about people).
I've been attempting to describe the difference between condemning and discerning, so that we can know which we are doing at the time. I attempted to say that we are allowed to discern fruit in people but not condemn people's hearts. But Jesus said that you will know their hearts by their fruit. So if we discern people's fruit as bad are we also condemning their hearts?
I started with the rejection of the view that we are ever able to judge others with pure hearts - and concluded that we should never judge in the same way that Jesus is describing at the beginning of Matthew 7. On the other hand, we are to judge fruit constantly - whether it is good or bad, and doing that can condemn a person.
It would be nice (and true) to say that it's all according to a person's heart. But our hearts are deceptive and can't be trusted. We are poor judges of our own hearts. I guess this is the time to say that we just have to depend on the Holy Spirit to help us (which is absolutely true).
https://hartmangroupdevotions.blogspot.com/2015/03/matthew-715-20-15-watch-out-for-false.html?zx=6d4d55508620537b continued:
ReplyDeleteRegardless, the issue with judging the action and not the heart is that judging the action is still quite difficult. Think about how we might judge Jesus' action of overturning tables in the temple, of Abraham placing Isaac on an altar, of Jesus not wanting to sell the perfume for the poor. I'm sure there are many others where avoiding the heart doesn't bring us close to the truth. Therefore I don't think avoiding looking at the heart is good enough.
OTOH, attempting to look at the heart is often fraught with error itself. Often we can't rightly discern our own motives let alone someone else's. We can so easily go wrong in this area.
It seems to me perhaps this all comes back to our pride and our humility. (common theme?) Its our pride that can say "I will judge you regardless of my own sin" and its pride that can "I avoid judging you because I don't care about you and will look more righteous if I stay above it all". Its humility that says "I care about you and I think we might be having similar sin issues. We should talk."
In the end, rightly done its not simple nor formulaic.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-6-commentary says:
ReplyDeleteBock says "Jesus now explains why being self-critical and self-correcting is important. The fruit that a teacher produces reflects what is at the core of his or her being, either good ( kalon) or bad (sapron)." (Ibid) In other words "remove the beam from your own eye, because it is a serious defect showing that you are not bearing good fruit. It explains why self-correction is important."
Walter Liefeld points out that "The thought of Lk 6:40 continues—like teacher, like student; like tree, like fruit. The parallel passage in Matthew 7:15–20+ refers to false prophets—a fact that supports a link between this verse (Lk 6:43) and Lk 6:39 about a blind leader. Throughout the preceding section and this one, the idea is that of consistency between source and product.
MacArthur - In this parable, the bad trees are false teachers, as Matthew’s parallel account makes clear. Similarly, in Matthew 12:33 Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.” Then in the next verse He applied that statement to them: “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart” (Mt 12:34).
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-6-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteSteven Cole - Jesus gives another illustration to show that we must examine the fruit that comes from our lives. Such fruit reveals our hearts, because we produce according to what we are. Jesus is not teaching here that some people are inherently good, while others are not. The only way you can get a good heart is to be born again through the power of God’s Spirit. Once you are born again, it is not automatic to live by the new man or heart. There will be a struggle between the old and the new. But those who truly have tasted the Father’s mercy will strive to put off the old man and put on the new. They will seek to please God, beginning on the thought level. As those who have received mercy, they will focus on showing God’s mercy toward others. Note that the good man has a good treasure or storehouse in his heart (Lu 6:45). Where does this come from? It comes from meditating often on God’s great mercy in Christ toward you. As Paul said, “the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me” (Ga 2:20). Let God’s great mercy fill your thoughts and you will have a storehouse of mercy to serve to others.
Ask yourself these questions: Am I marked more by a merciful spirit or by a critical, judgmental spirit? Am I blaming God or others for my problems, or am I working on removing the log in my own eye? Am I frequently judging my own life, down to the thought level, by God’s Word? Am I truly born again? Is pleasing Christ the focus of my life? To love others, especially those who have wronged us, as Jesus commands, we must focus on showing mercy to others, but on judging our own sins.
"The fruit of each tree reveals its actual character. It is the final test." (Robertson) Being determines doing.
Questions and findings:
ReplyDelete1. v43 - We just were told not to judge people's hearts, but now, here is a recipe for doing so. What's up?
This is partially a warning to ourselves - and we are definitely supposed to examine ourselves, whether we are in God or not. We also need to examine the teaching that we are listening to, whether it is of God or not.
Also, I think this is an example of a passage that is description, but perhaps not prescriptive. Jesus is telling us that the fruit and the tree is one and the same, but not telling us what to do with this information. We are poor judges with poor hearts, so we aren't in a position to judge as God does. However, we must discern fruit, as bad as we are at it. We are much better at this when we are in community with other Christ followers who are bearing good fruit. They will help us discern good and bad fruit.
2. v45 - Aren't we all evil people?
Yes. However, Christ saved and sanctified us, making us good trees. If we are saved, we will bear good fruit. However, we still wear a body of flesh, which is given to evil, and that body of flesh will bear bad fruit. I think there is no denying that we as Christ followers will bear fruit of both kinds. Consequently, God will come in throughout our lives and prune us.
Once again, I think the above is a descriptive section of Jesus' sermon, laying out a principle. Accordingly, we should not be accepting of bad fruit in our lives - it has no place. When we do see bad fruit growing, we need to go back to realizing we are poor, mourning, etc. to be restored to God.
Verse 45 is an exhortation as well as a guide: we need to see what is flowing from our mouth and from the mouths of those with whom we are fellowshipping. Is it godly wisdom? Gratitude? Scripture? or is is worldly thinking? complaining? criticism? Filling our hearts with the Lord's truth and actively cutting down the lies we get tempted to believe will fill up that storehouse, I believe.
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