Matthew 7:16

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.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7:16-17 Good and bad fruit refers to moral behavior (see 3:8, 10; 12:33-37; 13:8; 21:43; Gal 5:19-23).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 7:16. Ἀπὸ[326] τῶν καρπῶν αὐτῶν, κ.τ.λ., from their fruits, etc.) This declaration is solemnly repeated at Mat 7:20.—καρπῶν, 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 ποιεῖ, 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 another’s destruction.—See Schomer,[328] Theol. Moral. p. 252.—ἀπὸ ἀκανθῶν, 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 ἄκανθα, the thorn, and βάτος, the bramble, are very closely allied. The grape therefore (σταφυλὴ) is denied to each of them. Certain thorns (ἄκανθαι) 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 ἀπό: but c Lucif. ‘ex,’ Vulg. ‘a.’—ED.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_7:16-18. Ἐπιγνώς.] Ye will know them, not ye should (Luther).

The καρποί 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).

ἄκανθαι κ. τρίβολοι] Thorns and thistles occur together in a corresponding figurative sense in Heb_6:8.

οὕτω] application of those images to the false prophets, in such a way, however, that the latter, in keeping with ἀπὸ τ. καρπ. αὐτ. (comp. Mat_7:20), just before, appear again as trees.

A δένδρον ἀγαθόν is, as contrasted with the σαπρόν, a sound, healthy tree; for a σαπρόν is not some tree of an inferior species, but one whose organism is decaying with age, etc., rotten, the σαπρότης 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. ξύλον σαπρόν, Job_41:19. σαπροὶ στέφανοι, 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 οὐ δύναται of the corrupt tree, comp. Rom_8:7 f. In this emphatic οὐ δύναται lies the progressive force of the simile.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 7:16-20 . An enlargement in parabolic fashion on the principle of testing by fruit .

Mat 7:16 . ἀπὸ τ . καρπῶν . By the nature of the case difficult to detect, but discernible from their fruit . ἐπιγνώσεσθε . Ye shall know them through and through ( ἐπί ) if ye study carefully the outcome of their whole way of life.

Mat 7:16 . μήτι , do they perhaps, τι 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.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye shall know them by their fruits--not their doctrines--as many of the elder interpreters and some later ones explain it--for that corresponds to the tree itself; but the practical effect of their teaching, which is the proper fruit of the tree.

Do men gather grapes of thorns--any kind of prickly plant.

or figs of thistles?--a three-pronged variety. The general sense is obvious--Every tree bears its own fruit.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 (επιγνωσεσθε) 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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 sheep’s 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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. thorns] The Greek word means, probably, a kind of acacia, or perhaps “thistles.” There is a Greek proverb οὐ γὰρ ἄκανθαι, “no thistles,” i. e. “nothing useless.”

thistles] Rather, caltrop, a prickly water-plant.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As is the tree, so is its fruit; if the tree is good, it will bring forth good fruit. The tree that brings forth good fruit, is good antecedent to the fruit it produces; it is first good, and then puts forth good fruit: it is not the fruit that makes the tree good, but makes it appear to be so; but it is the goodness of the tree that makes the fruit good. As a good man does, and will do good works, but his works do not make him a good man; he is so before he performs good works, or he would never be able to do them; these make him appear to be a good man: so a good preacher, that has an experimental knowledge of the doctrines of the Gospel, will deliver out sound doctrine, who is first made so by the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God; and by searching the Scriptures, and examining his doctrines by them, he will be known and appear to be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine; and such a good minister of the Gospel, out of the good treasure of Gospel truths put into his earthen vessel, will bring forth, from time to time, good and excellent truths, to the edification and profit of those that hear: "but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit"; if the tree is corrupt, the fruit will be corrupt; and as is the preacher, so will be his doctrines: if he is a corrupt preacher, or a man of a corrupt mind, destitute of the truth, his preaching will be such as will tend to corrupt both the principles and practices of men; for such evil men and seducers, out of the evil treasure of false doctrines, which they have received into their judgments, will bring forth, either more secretly or openly, evil tenets in their ministry, which prove of bad consequence to the souls of men.

As is the tree, so is its fruit; if the tree is good, it will bring forth good fruit. The tree that brings forth good fruit, is good antecedent to the fruit it produces; it is first good, and then puts forth good fruit: it is not the fruit that makes the tree good, but makes it appear to be so; but it is the goodness of the tree that makes the fruit good. As a good man does, and will do good works, but his works do not make him a good man; he is so before he performs good works, or he would never be able to do them; these make him appear to be a good man: so a good preacher, that has an experimental knowledge of the doctrines of the Gospel, will deliver out sound doctrine, who is first made so by the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God; and by searching the Scriptures, and examining his doctrines by them, he will be known and appear to be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and good doctrine; and such a good minister of the Gospel, out of the good treasure of Gospel truths put into his earthen vessel, will bring forth, from time to time, good and excellent truths, to the edification and profit of those that hear: "but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit"; if the tree is corrupt, the fruit will be corrupt; and as is the preacher, so will be his doctrines: if he is a corrupt preacher, or a man of a corrupt mind, destitute of the truth, his preaching will be such as will tend to corrupt both the principles and practices of men; for such evil men and seducers, out of the evil treasure of false doctrines, which they have received into their judgments, will bring forth, either more secretly or openly, evil tenets in their ministry, which prove of bad consequence to the souls of men.

Matthew 7:18

mat 7:18

mat 7:18

mat 7:18A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,.... A man that is unprincipled with the grace of God, has an experimental acquaintance with the Gospel of Christ, and is guided by the Spirit of God into all truth, as it is in Jesus, cannot knowingly deliver, maintain, and abide by any doctrine that is contrary to the glory of God's grace, and the person of Christ, the work of the Spirit, the fundamental doctrines of the Bible; or what is repugnant to the experiences of God's people, and prejudicial to their souls.

Neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. A corrupt preacher, one destitute of the truth of the Gospel, reprobate concerning the faith, who never had any experience of the doctrines of grace, and denies them in the theory of them, cannot, consistent with himself, and his own principles, deliver, or preach good doctrine; or that which tends to produce any good fruit, either in the experience or lives of men. It is true, a corrupt man, that is, an unregenerate man, may preach sound doctrine, it being what he believes, though he has no experience of it: but then this man is not a corrupt tree, that is, a corrupt preacher, though a corrupt man. As our Lord means by "a good tree", not a good man, barely, or one that is made so by the grace of God; but a good minister, one that is furnished by the Spirit of God, and is well instructed in the kingdom of heaven: so by "a corrupt tree" he does not mean a corrupt man, a man that is in a state of nature, habitually and practically evil; but a corrupt preacher, a false prophet or teacher, that has sucked in corrupt principles, and has nothing else in him, and therefore can bring forth no other.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 (ταις ασελγειαις), 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 1:19; 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 30:21; 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 2:2; Col 2:7, and they are rooted and established in the faith, and in the present truth, 2Pe 1:12. So that, though man or angel should object against it, yet they would not yield to him, Gal 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 5:14; 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 14:5, 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 2:11; 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 3:13. 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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

As the true Church is known by the four marks of its being one, holy, catholic, and apostolical, so heretics and false teachers are known by certain vices, and the pernicious effects of their novelties in religion. As the true Church is one, by its members submitting with humility to the authority established by Christ, (he that will not hear the Church, let him be unto thee as the heathen and the publican. Matthew xviii. 17.) so are false teachers known by their separation from the ancient Church, and their divisions among themselves, the necessary consequences of rebelling against the authority established by Christ, and alone capable of determining controversies. The same pride and other secret vices which make them despise government, (2 Peter ii. 10.) make them also not afraid to bring in sects of perdition, blaspheming, and this in civil government as well as ecclesiastical. Those that call themselves Reformers, in the beginning of the 16th century, of all others were remarkable in this. What bloody tumults and wars were there not produced in Germany, by the first Reformers in that country! Calvin overturned the government of Geneva; and his followers, under the name Hugonots, filled France for a great length of time with slaughter and civil wars, frequently shaking the throne itself. In this country, the first cause of its separation from the universal Church, was the unbridled passion of a tyrant: the effects were adultery, and the murder of the successive queens that he had taken to his adulterous bed. In the reign of his successor, the insatiate avarice of a corrupt nobility, gratified with the sacrilegious plunder of the Church, established what is called the Reformation. The fear of being compelled to disgorge the fruits of their rapine, contributed much to the confirmation of that order of things in the reign of Elizabeth. She was inclined to it by the circumstances of her birth, which could not be legitimate, if her father’s marriage with Catharine of Arragon was valid, as the first authority in the Catholic Church had declared. The natural spirit of this heresy, though checked a while and kept under the despotical government of this queen, appeared in its own colours soon after, and produced its natural fruits in the turbulence of the times that succeeded, and the multiplicity of sects that are continually springing up to this very day. --- As the true Church is holy, recommending various exercises of religion tending to purify human nature, and render men holy, as fasting, confession of sins, evangelical counsels, &c. so false teachers cast off all these, promising liberty, (2 Peter ii. 16.) and giving full rein to the lustful passions, thus giving a liberty of living, as well as a liberty of believing. --- Another fruit of false teachers is, separation from what was the Universal Church before their time, and which continues to be still the far greater part, not being confined to one state or country. If some modern principles, of not allowing any communion of religion out of each state, were admitted, as many religions should have been established by heaven as men think proper to establish different states; nor could Christ have given one for all mankind, under whatever state or form of government they might live. --- Finally, false teachers are to known by their not being able to shew, that they have received their doctrine and mission from the apostles, in a regular succession from them. Some of our modern divines would spurn at the idea of holding their doctrine and orders from the Catholic Church, such as it existed at the time of the Reformation, which is precisely such as it exists at the present moment. --- In answer to this it has been retorted, that the fruits of the Catholic religion have been as bad, or worse; and the horrors of the French revolution are particularly mentioned, as a proof. ... That great crimes have been committed by those who professed themselves Catholics, is not denied; but that they were prompted to them by the nature of their religion, is certainly not admitted. The revolution of France in particular, was the effect of the people falling off from their religion. As well may the Puritans, that brought Charles to the block, be said to be Catholics, because they or their parents once had been such: as well may the present bench of Protestant bishops be said to be Catholics, because the bishops of their sees once were so; or that Robespierre, Marat, and the Jacobins that persecuted catholicity in France, and brought its too indulgent sovereigns to the guillotine, were Catholics, or directed in the least by Catholic principles. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Parallel passage: Luk_6:44. (For the first clause, cf also ver. 20 and Mat_12:33) Ye shall know them by their fruits. Their appearance and their claims are no proof of their true character. It may seem difficult to recognize this, yet there is a sure way of doing so, by their life. The emphasis of the sentence is on "by their fruits." Ye shall know. Y e shall come to know them to the full (epignwsesye). (On the greater strength of the compound, vide Ellicott, 1Co_13:12) Fruits. All considered separately (cf. vers. 17, 18, 20), but in ver. 19 as one whole. (cf. Mat_3:8, note) It is, however, just possible that here and in ver. 20 the plural points to fruit growing on different trees. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? The visible outgrowth reveals the nature of that which is within. Those who "profess to combine fellowship with God with the choice of darkness as their sphere of life" (Bishop Westcott, on the suggestive parallel 1Jn_1:6) only show that within they are destitute of fellowship with God. Observe, Christ does not say, "Do thorns produce grapes," etc.?, (cf. Jam_3:12) but "Do men gather?" i.e. he desires to bring out the way in which men ordinarily deal with productions external to themselves. You, my followers, ought to use that common sense in spiritual matters which men show in matters of everyday life. Thistles; apparently Centaurea calcitrapa, the common thistle of Palestine; in the plains the only fuel.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By their fruits ye shall know them - A short, plain, easy rule, whereby to know true from false prophets: and one that may be applied by people of the weakest capacity, who are not accustomed to deep reasoning. True prophets convert sinners to God, or at least confirm and strengthen those that are converted. False prophets do not. They also are false prophets, who though speaking the very truth, yet are not sent by the Spirit of God, but come in their own name, to declare it: their grand mark is, "Not turning men from the power of Satan to God." Luke vi, 43, 44.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

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."

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. Ye shall know them by their fruits. This common figure is wonderfully expressive. Not leaves (professions), or appearance, are the proper tests of the life that is in the tree, but the fruit it bears. We are to test men and every institution by this principle. Grapes of thorns. Two of the most highly valued fruits of Palestine are grapes and figs. Nothing is more common than thorns and thistles. Geike says that it is the land of thorns and thorny plants. Good fruit cannot be expected on such evil stocks.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

16. ἄκανθα. A thorn tree, a kind of acacia. Athenæus describes it as having a round fruit on small stalks. It would give additional point to the saying if there were a distant but deceptive likeness between grapes and the berries of the ἄκανθα.

τρίβολος. The caltrop, a prickly plant reckoned by Virgil among the farmer’s plagues, Lappœque tribulique interque nitentia culta | infelix lolium et steriles dominantur avenœ. Georg. I. 153.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16.] The καρποί 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. ‘Quærimus fructus caritatis, invenimus spinas dissentionis.’ Enarr. in Psa 149:1, § 2, vol. iv. pt. ii. See Jas 3:12: ch. 12:33, 34.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. From their fruits ye shall recognise them. Do men gather from thorns grapes, or from thistles figs !] Luk 6:44 has: “For not from thorns do they gather figs, nor from a bramble-bush do they pluck grapes.”

(L)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ye shall know [επιγνωσεσθε] . The compound verb indicates full knowledge. Character is satisfactorily tested by its fruits.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.