I am not having the best morning.... I am sleep-deprived, and then I showed up to something 4 hours early because no one clarified the schedule to me, so I could have gotten enough sleep, and that frustration mixed with lack of sleep almost made me have a meltdown on my way home.... But then i got home and drank some coffee and read my bible and I'm feeling much better. Still very sleepy though. Anyways, I ran across something pretty interesting so I thought I would try to relay my thought process here. It is very possible that the only reason I am not entirely understanding this is because my my brain is tired, so bear with me.
Matthew 7:15-20 says "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus by their fruit you will recognize them."
So this was the passage I initially read, and just a couple things stood out to me. First of all, It is so important to bear good fruit so that unbelievers can recognize us. It is tempting to try to fit in to the world, and some Christians I know would say that not defining yourself is a way of evangelism because it makes Christianity look "cool" or more approachable... But that just isn't the way to do it. We can be approachable and be different. The gospel IS offensive and it WILL make people uncomfortable. And this is the gospel you proclaim with your whole being so get used to it. My next thought was on the sentence that says "a bad tree can not bear good fruit". I think we all know people who are genuinely nice people, and may even exhibit a lot of christian qualities, but don't profess the gospel. So I found it interesting that they literally cannot produce "good fruit". Then I was thinking well wait, what is the distinction between doing something "good" and producing "good fruit"? What EXACTLY is "fruit"? And could these verses tie into predestination?
So first a couple verses concerning the definition of "good" came to mind:
Romans 3:9-12 "...We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one... there is no one who seeks God... there is no one who does good not even one."
Luke 18:19 "... No one is good except God alone."
My interpretation of these verses has always been that we cannot do good apart from God; that it is the Holy Spirit within us that enables us to do good works. The hard thing about that is that unbelievers do things that we think are good all the time. They give to the poor, they are kind to people, they don't commit felonies.... And yet, these aren't considered "good". My only solution to this is that maybe it has to do with motivation. Immanuel Kant is a philosopher who theorized that it is absolutely impossible for a person to do something that is not in some way selfishly motivated. After studying his reasoning, I actually see his point, but I don't agree in the case of believers.
That much of it sorta makes sense to me, but now are those acts like giving to the poor really considered bad fruit? And Christians do stuff that is selfishly motivated all the time so it can't be bad fruit for one and good fruit for another. And Christians do still sin, they're just not bound by it. They can refrain. So again, how can something be good fruit for one and bad fruit for another?
Okay so maybe I need to look into what "fruit" and "trees" are.
John 15:1-8 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful... Remain in Me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."
My first observation is that this is talking about bearing fruit or not bearing fruit, not bearing good or bad fruit. But I am pretty sure it is comparable, and is just meaning bearing good fruit or not bearing good fruit. Honestly I have never understood these verses entirely because they seem to be saying that a believer can lose his/her salvation, but there are many other passages that seem to indicate that a believer cannot lose his/her salvation. At any rate, I'm not going to get into that.
So it seems to me the options for a believer are bearing good fruit or not bearing any fruit, and the options for an unbeliever are bearing bad fruit or not bearing any fruit. But being in the Vine and not bearing good fruit will result in being cast away and burned. (I'm assuming it is talking about the lake of fire?) But He says "If a man remains in me he will bear much fruit," so it kind of sounds like bearing good fruit is something that goes along with seeking God. They go hand in hand and you don't have the one without the other? Of course this suggests that it is by choice that we seek God (or "remain in the vine"), which is again getting into predestination and freewill and whether or not salvation can be lost, and I am done talking about those subjects for right now. But I will point out that it says "remain in Me and I will remain in you" not "I will remain in you and you will remain in me". Sorry, sorry... Okay. Fruit. What is it?
I'm at the end of my train of thought and have run out of applicable verses. I have to admit, you read all of that to hear that I. Don't. Know. I have always considered fruit to be good works, but I think I just thoroughly confused myself.
One other point I wanted to make on the Matthew passage, is that it indicates predestination. It talks about having good trees and bad trees and not getting grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. Meaning, a good tree cannot become a bad tree and a bad tree will never be a good tree and bear good fruit. BUT maybe a good tree can still just not bear fruit? Hmmmm.....
ONE last thing. In the John passage Jesus says "If you remain in me and my words remain in you ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you. This is to my Father's glory..."This immediately made me think of how often "Ask and you shall receive" is misquoted. I see this as Jesus saying, if you remain in me, you will desire good things and they will be given to you for the purpose of bringing glory to my Father. This makes me think of when I asked God to heal me of my food allergies and eventually He did and I've been able to use that to bring glory to Him.
Anyways, sorry about the length... I will conclude by saying God is good and I graduate today! :)
~Melody
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