Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Matthew 7:15-20
Parable Meaning
A Tree and Its Fruit is a parable about recognizing false prophets. Jesus uses two metaphors for the false prophets: they are ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing and diseased trees that cannot bear fruit. Jesus indicates that false prophets will be cast into Hell and that they can be identified by the quality of their work.
Work Vehicle – Sheep’s Clothing
A wolf in sheep’s clothing is a well known metaphor for false prophets, charlatans, and confidence men. Animals do not do human work on their own, but this is a cunning wolf. The wolf had to fashion clothes from sheep. Making clothes is good work, but what is errant is putting on the clothes of another.
There are many ways this plays out today. Stolen valor is when a non-veteran wears a military uniform or a veteran wears medals he or she did not earn. Wearing a police uniform to impersonate an officer violates enormous community trust in law enforcement. There’s even this prohibition in Deuteronomy, “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God” (22:5). Dressing in a way to deceive others is an errant use of the clothes and can be a claim of work that was not done.
Work Vehicle – Born Fruit
Jesus uses powerful conditional statements to show the connection between an individual’s health and the output of his or her work: healthy trees yield healthy fruit, healthy trees cannot yield bad fruit, diseased trees yield bad fruit, and diseased trees cannot yield good fruit.
Healthy Tree –> Good Fruit Diseased Tree –> Bad Fruit
Healthy Tree -/-> Bad Fruit Diseased Tree -/-> Good Fruit
Since there are only two kinds of fruit and two kinds of trees, the reverse is true as well. Therefore, if and only if a tree is healthy does it bear good fruit; if and only if a tree is diseased does it bear bad fruit.
Healthy Tree <–> Good Fruit Diseased Tree <–> Bad Fruit
This means that the quality of a worker can be judged by the quality of the output. The relationship between worker and output is inescapably linked. In this sense, people are what they do.
Finally, fruit is meant for enjoyment and consumption. Good fruit is delectable, enriching, and strengthening for future work. Bad fruit is either poisonous or only sufficient for sustenance. The output of good work continues to produce good work towards the future.