Bible Study series: Luke 6:43-45. We must look for character in those who minister among us. Character over gifting.
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 6:43-45
43 For a healthy tree does do produce rotten fruit, and neither does a bad tree produce healthy fruit. 44 Each tree is known by its own fruit. From thorn bushes they do not gather figs, neither from briers do they pluck a bunch of grapes. 45 The good person from the heart’s good treasure produces the good, and a bad person produces the bad. For from the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:43-45)
Comments:
As noted, kingdom citizens can judge the fruit of the tree, but not the root. God alone can judge both the fruit and the root. Keep to you own jurisdiction and do not cross the line.
This whole pericope or section is a short parable. Please see vv. 39-42 for a working definition of a parable.
Begin a series on the nine fruit of the Spirit:
Here is one on the fruit of righteousness:
43:
This section of Scripture should be carried over from the previous one. Don’t see them disconnected.
“healthy” could be translated as “fine” or “good.” Clearly Jesus is using this illustration to talk about character that works its way out into speech and observable behavior.
44:
The punchline is in this verse. Each tree is known by its own fruit.
“is known”: Word Study: Knowledge
“by its own”: this means that we should not overgeneralize about the whole orchard, just because one tree is unhealthy. As the modern saying goes, “One bad apple does not have to spoil the whole bunch of apples” (or words to that effect). Just take out the bad apple. Take each person on his own terms.
Later, Jesus will tell the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree (Luke 13:6-9). A vineyard owner planted it in his vineyard, and it produced no fruit. He told the vinedresser to cut it down, but the vinedresser implored the owner to let it live one more year, for he would take care of it and fertilize it. If it produces fruit, then well and good. If it does not produce any fruit, then he’ll cut it down. This goes deeper than rotten fruit. That tree is fruitless.
Further, in this verse Jesus uses hyperbole (extravagant exaggeration) to drive home his moral truth. It is impossible to get those fruit from those thorny plants. In fact, if the farmer were to look for them, he would get pricked, so he shouldn’t even bother. Does this mean that some people are so awful that they will never produce good fruit—they are the thorn bushes and briers? It is possible that men like Stalin, Hitler and Mao fit that description, but those are rare and extreme examples. Let’s not take the illustration too far, particularly when it is hyperbolic. People in our ordinary lives don’t qualify to be those thorny plants, at least not to our (limited) knowledge.
45:
It is implied that “the bad person from the (heart’s bad treasure) produces the bad.”
Here is the main point to this whole pericope or section. It is possible for a man to have basic goodness. We observe it all the time. Rich atheists with a bankrupt personal life give away millions. The theologians who emphasize man’s evil must not exaggerate. No, this does not deny original sin. No, a man’s goodness is not sufficient for him to strut into God’s eternal and holy presence (see Is. 6). He needs grace and to be invited through his Son. But here it is a moral truth about Jesus’s disciples and humanity in general. In the kingdom community, look for men and women who speak words of blessing and edification. In business endeavors, look for men and women who do the same. The ones who consistently and characteristically speak good words have good hearts and can be trusted. It’s a general principle. Exceptions may apply, however.
“person”: see v. 22 for more comments.
GrowApp for Luke 6:43-45
1. Jesus’s point is self-examination. Study John 15:1-8. How does good fruit grow in your life?
2. Jesus’s other point is inspecting the fruit of others. If you are a church leader, how have you applied the principle of fruit inspection? How about in your own life?
RELATED
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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