“Beware of FALSE PROPHETS, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them BY THEIR FRUITS. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every GOOD TREE bringeth forth good fruit; but a CORRUPT TREE bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore BY THEIR FRUITS ye shall know them.” (Matthew 7:15-20 KJV)
I have seen the words of Jesus in Matthew 7 to teach that,
- That Matthew 7 shows that a believer can lose Salvation.
- That a person with good fruit is saved and a person with bad fruit is not saved.
Both of these teachings are WRONG by the very context found within Matthew 7. If you have been taught these, please stop telling others this as truth and I am showing you why in this article. It is the very reason for this article.
These two wrong teachings about Matthew 7 are running very rampant in Christian communities. Many pulpits are also stating these very wrong teachings about Matthew 7. We must watch the CONTEXT very closely! Otherwise, as a believer you will be condemning others in harsh judgement, when Jesus has clearly taught against doing such!
Let’s look closely at this passage of Scripture with proper context to see the true meaning of Jesus.
“15 Beware of FALSE PROPHETS, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 Ye shall know them BY THEIR FRUITS. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every GOOD TREE bringeth forth good fruit; but a CIRRUOT TREE bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore BY THEIR FRUITS ye shall know them.
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the WILL OF MY FATHER which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have WE not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I NEVER KNEW YOU: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:15-23 KJV)
This is a very power packed passage of truth to decipher and so let’s do just that.
The real context starts at verse 15. Jesus is talking about FALSE PROPHETS. This is the context of this passage. They come to you as sheep, as ‘Christians’. They come with various verses of Scripture, all taken out of context by the way, to tell you it is your WORKS that matters. They teach about Jesus but it is false teaching.
It is these false prophets who are the verse 23 “YE THAT WORK INIQUITY”. Jesus speaks about the false prophets, and what are they doing wrong? What is their iniquity?
They are thinking and telling others that it is WHAT THEY DO that qualifies them for salvation in Jesus. They are combining grace with works for righteousness and mixing Law following with Grace through Christ. We need to take this very seriously! Jesus gives us a stern warning here.
In Matthew 7:22 Jesus makes it clear,
“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have WE not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?”
Do you See it? They are saying have not WE, and in thine name WE, WE done many WORKS. WE WE WE! They rely on their own ability to please God and by doing such think they are saved.
To them Jesus gives stern warning in verse 23 that on Judgement day for them (The Great White Throne Judgement of the unsaved),
“And then will I profess unto THEM, I NEVER KNEW YOU: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:23 KJV)
Notice this one verse does not say they were believers who lost salvation. Not at all. It says that Jesus NEVER knew them. This is definitely about those who think they are saved by their works. They are being judged and condemned to eternal separation from God at the future Great White Throne judgement of unbelievers and in defending themselves, they show nothing but self righteous pride! They will not even mention that Jesus paid for their sins. Instead, they will try and stand as righteous because of their works. That my friends is the devil’s BIGGEST LIE. Satan’s biggest deception to the whole world is deceiving people into believing this.
What About Fruit Inspecting?
What about fruit inspecting in this passage? If salvation is not about works then what is verses 16-20 all about? It is clear that by the comparison Jesus just gave in previous verses that it is a comparison of judging and condemning others verses showing love and mercy as Christ as done for us. Think about this a moment.
Jesus talks about two groups of people as TREES. What a great analogy! In John 15, Jesus teaches this too and states that HE is the vine and WE, as saved believers, are BRANCHES! Where does a branch life come from? The sap, which comes from the ROOT of a tree. Jesus is the VINE of a believer. He is our Root.
An unbeliever has at their core being, as the root, a Spirit of Adam, a sin nature at their very core. They sin because they have a sin nature at their core. They know they have sinned against God. That is the truth. But they think that they can gain God’s favor by their outward living in good works. They fail to realize that this is not the wages for our sins! In God’s economy the wages for sin is not works. The wages of sin is DEATH, eternal death and separation from God (Romans 6:23). Failing to realize this truth, they remain lost in their debt of sins. To them it is all about works and good deeds. And so, how do they live outwardly, in love or condemnation and judging of others?
A person who instead realizes they are a sinner and that they CANNOT work off their sins with good deeds, turns to God and seeks Him for MERCY, just as Jesus states earlier in Matthew 7 as the right way to be saved. Their tree root has been changed and made RIGHTEOUS in the Spirit. Being saved by God’s grace they know God’s love and how He gave His own begotten Son to save us by His death on the cross. The greatest act of love in all of history.
Having received this GRACE, their Spirit inside was REBORN (John 3) and RECREATED (2 Cor. 5:17-21) and have become COMPLETE IN CHRIST (Colossians 2). With this new Spirit, we now work from our new inward Spirit (our tree root), outward into our lives with good works by God’s love through us. It is God’s grace that we have received as believers that encourages us to live outwardly in love to others. Apostle Paul says that we should walk ‘in the Spirit to avoid the lusts of the flesh’ and not by the Law, in the book of Galatians. Saved believers are right now RIGHTEOUS at our core being and this works outward into good works in our lives.
That is what Jesus means in context when He says,
“A GOOD TREE cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a CORRUPT TREE bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matthew 7:18-20 KJV)
Remember, this whole passage is about false prophets speaking (starting at verse 15). Yet, these are the same works based false salvation teachers today that use Matthew 7, verse 22 and 23 to claim that works are required for salvation and that believers can lose salvation. They are very wrong! If they would only read the previous verses in context.
These verses have confused many when not seen in the proper context of Matthew 7. Some believers today are mistaking these “fruits” with the “fruit bearing” of John 15 which is about being a disciple bearing good fruit and not about salvation.
However,that is NOT the context here in Matthew 7. It simply cannot be so because Jesus had just previously said that the FALSE PROPHETS come in “sheep’s clothing”. They look like they have good works and people would assume that because such a person has good works that they must be a born again believer. That is actually a completely FALSE STATEMENT! Our works have NOTHING to do with how we are justified in salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9). These false prophets are teaching externals, even while using Jesus’ name in doing so. They have missed the Gospel message entirely which is not about good works for righteousness but only faith and belief on Christ alone.
WHAT IS THE FRUIT IN MATTHEW 7 THEN?
So the ‘fruit’ in Matthew 7 is not a person’s WORKS. It is the WORDS these false prophets are teaching! As soon as a teacher is preaching good works for salvation or good works required to remain saved, they are the false teachers being spoken of here by Jesus. They are relying on their works for righteousness or accepting God’s grace but thinking they then need to work to remain saved.
These two false beliefs are actually UNBELIEF. Either a person is BELIEVING and trusting in Christ and HIS FINISHED work having paid for all sins of the world (1 John 2:2) or they are in UNBELIEF and UNSAVED. The unsaved followers of Jesus in Matthew 7 know nothing about the cross Christ will end up upon and I am stating this with passages after the cross for our understanding and application of Matthew 7. Yet, before the cross the Jews did know, and were looking for the appearance of the foretold Messiah, who would become the final payment for the sins of the people. The Pharisees just rejected He is the Messiah but it is true regardless.
Take notice that I am not saying good works after salvation are wrong. NO! Good works after salvation are ‘…UNTO GOOD WORKS..’ but they only come from our NEW SPIRIT and the indwelling Holy Spirit moving outward in our lives in love towards others (Ephesians 2:10). But the works NEVER SAVE ANYONE! Only belief on Christ saves (John 3:14-18, John 6:37-40, 1 Cor. 15:1-4, Eph. 2:8-9, Eph. 1:13-14 etc).
What is the ‘will of the Father’ Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7:21 then? Is this statement by Jesus about our works and good deeds or Law following? Not at all. Jesus is not saying one thing and then another in the same passage of teaching! Look at Jesus’ words to see the truth.
Jesus tells us this in John 6,
“Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that YE BELIEVE ON HIM whom he hath sent.” (John 6:29 KJV)”
39 And this is the FATHERS’s WILL which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this IS THE WILL OF HIM THAT SENT ME, that every one which seeth the Son, and BELIEVETH ON HIM, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” ( John 6:39-40 KJV)
Today we see many false gospels in so called, ‘christian religions’. False gospels such as, ‘works for salvation’, ‘grace plus works’, ‘social gospel’, ‘prosperity gospel’, ‘Lordship Salvation’, and ‘Word of faith, name it to claim it’; all of which are not the Biblical Gospel of our Salvation.
