Bible Bites

Maybe you read the Bible; maybe you know it backwards and forth.

But maybe you’ve never even flipped one open. Or you have, and it all looked like religious gibberish. If that’s you, just read along with the interpretation and see if any of it strikes a chord in your life. See what you think.

I see much of the Bible as a collection of metaphors. So, I wanted to go through some interpretations that can help.

This one is Matt 7:15-20. It ends with “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” You’ve heard this saying before; this is where it comes from.

The whole passage is this:

(15)Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

(16)You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

(17)Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

(18)A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

(19)Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

(20)Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

OK, let’s break down this passage and see the ways it might relate to your life.

(15)Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

Beware of false prophets

A prophet is someone who operates in a gifting and has been trained by God to deliver this gifting. It can take the form of speaking a truth into a situation that causes an awakening of the listeners, or planting a seed that grows in the listener that is realized later. A prophet also can speak something new into a situation, a life, a system, etc that blooms something new. They can also reveal places where damage or vulnerabilities exist and pray repair to those spots, etc. All to say, prophets breathe the new into spaces.

So, if there is something being heard or read or witnessed that seems like a new path or a fresh opening, there is a possibility that it is false. The “false prophet” here is a person or idea that appears to present a bloom or a renewal, but fails to deliver. Or worse, delivers the opposite.

who come to you in sheep’s clothing

These false prophets, or people and ideas that don’t deliver, will be disguised in the appearance of the herd. They will appear to be like you and me, the ideas will seem familiar, comfortable, harmless, even.

but inwardly are ravenous wolves

The intent of these people and ideas is to eat you. Instead of the bloom a true prophet would give you, the intent of the false prophets is to devour your joy, ideas, will, desire, love, and everything that makes you feel alive.

So, how do we regard this? We’re not going to walk around in fear and suspicion.

(16)You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

And here’s an answer. There will always be results of their actions, the “fruits” of their ideas and efforts. And there’s not the worry that we’ll be tricked with “good fruit” from a false prophet, because nature doesn’t function like that. No thorn bush or thistle produces fresh fruit.

(17)Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.(18)A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

And He adds that not only will bad plants not trick you buy giving you good fruit, but good fruit only comes from good trees, and bad fruit only comes from bad trees. In other words, you can trust a person by their results, because their fruits are tied to their “tree type.” Someone trying to appear to bloom something new in you or in your life or in society will not have any beneficial results if they are a “bad tree.”

(19)Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

For this one, let’s look at the Greek words used when it was written.

“Does not bear” is the Greek word poioun, “to make, manufacture, construct, to cause, to act.”

“Good” is kalon, “beautiful, valuable, virtuous.”

“Is cut down” is ekkoptetai, “to cut away, remove, prevent, frustrate.”

“Thrown” is balletai, “cast, dropped.”

“Fire” is pyr, “heat of the sun, lightning, eternal fire.”

So, every tree that does not make/construct/cause beautiful/valuable/virtuous fruit is removed/prevented/frustrated and cast/dropped into the heat of the sun/lightning/eternal fire. Meaning, every person who seeks to destroy you/your joy/your society will be eventually prevented and people and ideas such as this will be subject to a kind of fire that disintegrates anything that cannot withstand its heat.

(20)Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Another reminder to look at the results, and not necessarily the person or the idea. The person and the ideas can be indicators, but if you are not sure by those elements, the results will indicate to you the tree type.

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OK, how are we to apply this to our lives?

First, what type of person or idea are we talking about? “False prophets.”

Someone or something that presents itself as a birther of a new thing. Maybe this is a kind of get-rich-quick scheme, or a person trying to convince you that going their way will solve all your problems. These are the obvious ones, and you can look at their past track record to see what type of “fruit” they bear.

Additionally, what kind of fruit does this person produce inside you? In other words, when you use your discernment, do you have an uneasy feeling? A feeling that things aren’t quite right? A feeling of their ill-intent under the surface? Sometimes everyone around you can think a particular person is great or an idea is terrific, but the person or idea doesn’t sit well with you at all.

If this is a group decision, you may have to sit back and wait for more fruit to reveal itself, such that others can get their own indicators of this tree type.

Another, milder example is an idea that one may have for a company direction, or legislation that is adopted by a city or country. One can also look at the results to see if it’s a good or bad idea. There may not have been any bad intentions when this idea was produced. Nonetheless, if the results are bad, you just cut down that idea, or “tree.”

In the end, even if a person or idea is taken further down the line than they should have been, bearing bad fruit all along the way, they WILL be cut down eventually and thrown in the fire. Where there are other people involved in the decision making, it may take a while, but it will always be done

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