§ 6. The Sermon on the Mount (According to Matthew)

General

This passage is not about people in general, as the editors seemed to think when naming this pericope, but about people claiming to speak on behalf of God: prophets. A prophet is supposed to be sent by God, God Himself speaking directly to him with a message for the people. But not every prophet really speaks on God's behalf; prophets can suppress parts of God's message, or add to it. And people to whom the Lord has not spoken at all can still claim to be prophets and garner a following. Unfortunately for those followers, they will also receive condemnation.

1 John 4:1

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Jeremiah 14:13–16

Then I said: “Ah, Lord GOD, behold, the prophets say to them, ‘You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place.’” And the LORD said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. Therefore thus says the LORD…: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon them.”

Peter tells us the false prophets of old are the false teachers of today.

2 Peter 2:1

False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you….

Therefore, what the Lord is telling us here in Matthew is that a false teacher is not recognized as false because of how he looks or how he talks or where he's from—or any other external indicator. What makes a false teacher false is the application of his teaching: Does his teaching call on us to do God's will, or does it instead allow us to sin?

Controversy in the Churches

There has been much controversy over false teachers in the churches, and we should address at least some of the most significant issues here.

It is often taught in the churches that in order for someone to be identified as a false teacher, he must first be shown to have bad character. Like Balaam of old, the false teacher in this interpretation must be someone who knows what he is saying is wrong but says it anyway because he is handsomely rewarded for doing so. While it is true that Balaam was a false prophet, and it would be true that someone who knowingly teaches error for profit today would be a false teacher, this definition is fundamentally different from the Lord's definition. And that should be a cause for concern.

The Lord did not say, "By their motives you shall know them," nor did He say, "By their understanding you shall know them." He clearly said we would know them "by their fruits."

Adam and Eve were recognized "by their fruits." Eve was deceived while Adam knew full well they were sinning (1 Timothy 2:14). But both were condemned because they ate the forbidden fruit.

Genesis 3:11, 13

[The LORD God said to the man…,] “Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”

So also a false teacher is known not by what he intends in his heart (which we cannot read), nor by what he thought he was accomplishing (which we cannot know), but by what his teaching calls people to do—the fruits.

We should also note that the Lord's definition protects honest teachers, as well. A person does not become a false teacher by making a mistake, misspeaking, getting a name or place or other sundry details wrong when delivering a public speech. It is a sin to take something someone says out of context to apply it in ways he never intended and accuse him of being a false teacher.

A teaching calls Christians to action, and it can be identified in a sermon or Bible class, in a bulletin or magazine article, or in a book, for example.

Teaching certainly can be done privately, too, but a brother does not become a false teacher merely by asking for advice from a trusted friend in private.

Proverbs 27:17

Iron sharpens iron,
and one man sharpens another.

Rather, a false teacher takes his questions to the pulpit, where only the positive statement of the word of God is appropriate.

1 Peter 4:11

Whoever speaks, [let him do so] as one who speaks oracles of God….

The Lord has not left us fearful and subject to overreaction on the topic of false teachers. We identify false teachers in His way: by judging the outcomes.

Background: Truth is Absolute and Knowable

Under the surface of any controversy about recognizing false teachers is a fear that we cannot understand the Bible. If we cannot know what is true, how can we possibly recognize what is false? But Jesus assures us we can—indeed, we must—know the truth.

John 8:30–32

As he was saying these things, many believed in him. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 10:24–27

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me….”

beware

The word for "beware" (προσέχω) is about what we hold to, where we stand.

On one hand, we may stand aloof—as is the case here in Matthew 7—when we realize someone is teaching error.

Matthew 16:12

Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

On the other hand, we may well hold firmly to the trustworthy word of God.

2 Peter 1:19

We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place….

ravenous wolves

Predators targeting flocks is an unfortunate part of life on earth. Jesus's use of the illustration has precedent in Scripture:

Ezekiel 22:23–28

And the word of the LORD came to me: “…The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ when the LORD has not spoken.”

The threat of false teaching is still with us today. As Paul told the elders at Ephesus:

Acts 20:29–30

I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

While we must identify and keep aloof from those who teach error, the ultimate predator we face is Satan:

1 Peter 5:8

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

thornbushes…thistles

The contrast of grapes to thorns, figs to thistles, is fairly sharp on its own. But we must acknowledge that the bad fruits have an ancient origin in Scripture.

Genesis 3:17–19

And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

healthy…diseased

Better is "edible…toxic."

In the illustration, grapes are not gathered from thornbushes, nor figs from thistles. The difference between a grape vine and a thornbush, a fig tree and a thistle, is not whether the plant is healthy or diseased. These are entirely different kinds of plants. Thornbushes make thorns, not grapes.

The word Jesus uses for the "good" (ἀγᾰθός) tree can also be translated "serviceable", "beneficial", "usable", or "valuable". In other words, this is the kind of tree we plant intentionally and keep around. Its fruit is edible.

The word He uses for the "bad" (σαπρός) tree is fairly unusual in the New Testament (but see the notes on Ephesians 4:29 below); it can mean "rotten", "putrid", "poisonous", or making rotten, inducing vomit. We would typically consider thorns and thistles inedible—they would certainly make us sick.

cut down and thrown into the fire

John the baptist had prepared the way for this teaching:

Matthew 3:10

Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

The warning still applies to the church today:

Hebrews 6:4–8

It is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

recognize them by their fruits

Very important is the conclusion drawn here, since it re-focuses our attention on the real point. The tree is a good analogy, but we're talking about what people do!

The coming of a false prophet is a scary prospect since he is not easily detected on sight. But it bears repeating: the solution is to look at the outcomes. What does his teaching lead to? That will tell you whether he teaches truth or error.

General

The parallel passage in Matthew 12 focuses on our habit of life.

• "Either make the tree good...or bad" is a call for us to decide whom we will serve.
• What fills the heart over time becomes what comes out of the mouth.
• And we build a treasury through the course of life, from which we bring forth things to share with others.

fruit

With a focus on habits, we are reminded of Paul's words to Rome:

Romans 6:20–22

When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

brood of vipers

John the baptist had also prepared the way for this teaching:

Matthew 3:7

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks

What will come from the mouth is what has already filled the heart. Other New Testament writers refer to this teaching by Jesus.

Consider this beautiful comparison by Paul:

Romans 10:8–10

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

On the other hand, consider this warning from James:

James 3:9–12

With [the tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Paul also follows on the concept of the bad (poisonous, toxic) fruit with this instruction to Ephesus:

Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.