Matthew 7:15-20 Interpretation.

Jesse Dornfeld

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"You will know them by their fruits."

I think a lot of people think this means they will have the Fruit of the Spirit, but I have also heard that the Fruit is Good Doctrine as well.

Looking for your interpretations of these verses.
 

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People are often spoken of as branches that produce fruit. If a branch produces bad fruit it is cut off and burned.

Here a fruit would be what a branch produces so similarly a person produces either good works or bad works ie: is a good or bad person.

You can know people according to their fruit or what kinds of things they do.
 
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Rene Loup

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I would say both sound doctrine and the Fruit of the Spirit in contrast with the Acts of the Flesh, as listed in Galatians 5:7-26, that will result from what is being taught.[4]

Bible Gateway passage: Galatians 5:7-26 - King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Galatians 5:7-26 - New King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Galatians 5:7-26 - New International Version
Bible Gateway passage: Galatians 5:7-26 - International Children’s Bible

The Fruit of the Spirit 1.jpg



This is the Biblical version of Emotional Intelligence...[1][2][3]

Self-Awareness - Humility to give oneself honest assessments of his/her own competence. Pride will only discourage Peace and Joy for everyone involved.
Self-Regulation - Self-Control, Patience, and Faithfulness. Promotes Peace and Joy in self and others.
Social Skills - All of these Fruits of the Spirit promote pro-social behaviour, which is the long-term goal of social skills. These lead to Peace and Joy.
Empathy - Love, Kindness, Gentleness, and Goodness. Gives Peace and Joy to self and others.
Motivation - Pleasing God should be our main motivation in life, first and foremost. Eventually leads to eternal Peace and Joy.
  1. 5 Key Components of Emotional Intelligence
  2. The Benefits of Emotional Intelligence
  3. Emotional Intelligence in Leadership: Why It's Important
  4. 2 Corinthians 11:1-15, Galatians 1:6-10, 2 Peter 2:1-22, 1 Timothy 6:3-10, 2 Timothy 3:1-17, 4:1-5
 
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Jesse Dornfeld

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I would say both sound doctrine[4] and the Fruit of the Spirit in contrast with the Acts of the Flesh, as listed in Galatians 5:7-26.

Bible Gateway passage: Galatians 5:7-26 - King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Galatians 5:7-26 - New King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Galatians 5:7-26 - New International Version
Bible Gateway passage: Galatians 5:7-26 - International Children’s Bible

View attachment 293230


This is the Biblical version of Emotional Intelligence...[1][2][3]

Self-Awareness - Humility to give oneself honest assessments of his/her own competence. Pride will only discourage Peace and Joy for everyone involved.
Self-Regulation - Self-Control, Patience, and Faithfulness. Promotes Peace and Joy in self and others.
Social Skills - All of these Fruits of the Spirit promote pro-social behaviour, which is the long-term goal of social skills. These lead to Peace and Joy.
Empathy - Love, Kindness, Gentleness, and Goodness. Gives Peace and Joy to self and others.
Motivation - Pleasing God should be our main motivation in life, first and foremost. Eventually leads to eternal Peace and Joy.
  1. 5 Key Components of Emotional Intelligence
  2. The Benefits of Emotional Intelligence
  3. Emotional Intelligence in Leadership: Why It's Important
  4. 2 Corinthians 11:1-15, Galatians 1:6-10, 2 Peter 2:1-22, 1 Timothy 6:3-10, 2 Timothy 3:1-17, 4:1-5

The Fruit of the Spirit is the opposite of the Spirit of man.
 
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Jeshu

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i think by the fruit you will recognise the truth also works spiritually. If i listen to dishonesty, or greed, lust, pride, envy and the likes then this will bear bad fruit in my spirit, shaping me according to their uncleanness. If on the other hand i listen to love, kindness, generosity, caring, sharing, gentleness and self control then i bear good fruits and my spirit will be healthy and strong to withstand bad life.

i found two powers at work in my members. The powers of darkness which leads to evil, suffering and death, and the power of light which leads to being thankfully joyful and true loving God and neighbour, reaping eternal life.

i have seen Jesus harvest me in my good life, each day again, as i die to the bad life, if any got through. This is why it is important to go to Jesus every day and to live life in Him and with Him at all times.

Good doctrine is what scripture teaches, but i have seen very little of that around, apart of what religious factions teaches. Which overall is based on the teachings of men and salvation a question of self effort. Such people judge fallen sinners rather than love them back to their feet, and they read Scripture according to the rule of their dogma, instead of the rule of love speaking true, with which Spirit the word was written.

Having seen believers sell their soul to their doctrine has left a dirty taste in my mouth. i think to test ones doctrine they just have to see if loving God above all and neighbour as well as self is true in deed.

Peace.
 
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Mark Quayle

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"You will know them by their fruits."

I think a lot of people think this means they will have the Fruit of the Spirit, but I have also heard that the Fruit is Good Doctrine as well.

Looking for your interpretations of these verses.
Haha (since we just now talked about salvation monergism but sanctification synergism) -- As a post-regeneration monergist I say that in fact they ARE the fruit of the Spirit (or in the case of the false prophets, the substitution for it --bad fruit), but I don't think the force of the passage is about that fact.

Aside from that theme, though, I think it is interesting that Christ followed up his words concerning the false teachers and their fruit, with the mention of those who apparently had good fruits --as nowadays gain a following by their apparent spiritual abilities --healing, casting out demons, and the like-- yet in the end Christ will say, "Depart from me! I never knew you!"
 
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Carl Emerson

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How does this reconcile with the following verses in Mark 16?

...These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
 
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Mark Quayle

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How does this reconcile with the following verses in Mark 16?

...These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
I am not saying that categorically those who do these things are false --certainly not! But even though false believers may in Christ's name (according to them) do those things, those things do not qualify the false teacher as true. Likewise, I don't think that false teachers are all do 'miracles' they think they have done in Christ's name.
 
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topher694

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"You will know them by their fruits."

I think a lot of people think this means they will have the Fruit of the Spirit, but I have also heard that the Fruit is Good Doctrine as well.

Looking for your interpretations of these verses.
There are 3 categories of fruit:

1) Fruit of the Spirit - Gal 5:22-23 - this is inward transformation that leads to outward demonstration. This is the process of growth that results in us acting and sounding more like Jesus.

2) Fruit of our Labor (our ministry) - Phil 1:20-22, Col 1:9-10 - What are you doing? Is it working (is it fruitful)? Example: are you giving marriage advice, but have been divorced 3 times with #4 in the works? Fruit of our labor MUST be informed and empowered by fruit of the Spirit. They grow together.

3) Fruit of our Righteousness - James 3:13-18 - This centers around what we believe. The more you believe the right (Godly) things, the more likely you are to DO the right things. None of us are perfect in this, we are all a work in progress... to identify this fruit we look for the overall pattern of fruit, not just an instance of it. Fruit of Righteousness is magnified by the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, thus magnifying God.
 
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mlepfitjw

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First becoming a Christian my idea was to get a fix on who Jesus Christ really was that including reading all the Gospels.

Anyone who tells me I'm a good person, I disagree, though they will only be able to tell the fruit God/Lord Jesus Christ produces through me.

John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. @timothyu

My retort : Will be it's not me, but anything good that comes from me comes from God himself/ the spirit of Christ/ the Holy Spirit with-in.
 
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timothyu

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I disagree, though they will only be able to tell the fruit God/Lord Jesus Christ produces through me.
Yes, perhaps some day at judgement we will have to stand before all of our fellow man that ever was and have our inner thoughts exposed while we were displaying another. :)
 
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Halbhh

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"You will know them by their fruits."

I think a lot of people think this means they will have the Fruit of the Spirit, but I have also heard that the Fruit is Good Doctrine as well.

Looking for your interpretations of these verses.
We all know that the only good way to understand is to be reading fully, getting all the context.

Let's think on that a moment. It's really reading fully through with listening. If a person reads just trying to see a doctrine, then they will hear only their doctrine, because they are closing their ears to listening to Christ, putting the doctrine above His Words.

Listening is the key, and to more than only this question. Listening is, we read here in this chapter, part of what He tells us to do also!

So, chapter 7 as a whole does have one theme that is repeated several ways. And that will help a lot, listening to the entire chapter as a whole, I think. Verses 24-27, stating such a dramatic and powerful thing, are not alone in the chapter, but they are connecting to many things in the chapter. (as we could expect)

Christ words are so wonderful in that way: that if we read them again, even for a 4th or 10th time (!), we can learn new, invaluable things from Him.

Another very powerful passage to help also on fruits, to help us know what is good fruit, is in John chapter 15.

Altogether, I feel to really know well, one needs to read fully through the gospels. Else one might think something is only an interpretation. If I just answered this question very simply and directly, how would anyone know I was giving the true answer?

Only if they read fully through the gospels could they really know what is a true answer. No man, no doctrine, is ever a substitute for that full listening.

And...that full listening is what we need, and every doctrine falls short compared to that full listening to all that Christ says to us.

So, by the time you finish reading the Gospel of John and the Gospel of Matthew fully, you will probably have a pretty good understanding of what is "good fruit", even if you hadn't seen Galatians chapter 5 ever.
 
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