Smoodock's Blog

At a family cook-out at my home, one of my brothers-in-law pointed to my Kousa dogwood tree and asked if it were a peach tree. He reasoned so, because its leaves are similar to that of a peach tree. I told him what it was, but the point, as it applies to our study at hand, is a tree is not known by its bark, its leaves or its shape. It is known by its fruit. Jesus’ point in saying so was, the Pharisees, who had besmirched his character with their remark, saying he healed through an evil power, presented themselves as righteous, but they were not. They claimed Jesus was evil, but he was not, so Jesus’ point: a tree is known by its fruit, vis-à-vis it is known by what it produces. Jesus healed a man, which was a good deed, and folks thought he might be the Messiah. On the other hand, the Pharisees caused the people to become afraid, because they accused Jesus of working an evil power to do “good,” presumably for the sake of gaining a following. What they did was produce fear in the hearts of the people (not good) and they made the good deed, which Jesus had done, into a questionable deed with evil intent. So, they appeared righteous, but practiced unrighteousness, the fruit of a corrupt (G4550) tree.[1]

Jesus, then, replied to the Pharisees according to their folly without behaving as they did (cp. Proverbs 26:4-5). They accused Jesus of acting out of an evil power to produce a good deed, which ultimately is a contradiction; and evil tree cannot produce good fruit. What Jesus did in replying to their accusation was to demand that they come clean and admit they were the one’s producing evil fruit. He said: “either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt, because a tree is known by its fruit!” (Matthew 12:33).

Similarly, the Lord created all kinds of trees and placed them in the Garden of Eden, but only one tree could not be eaten, and that was the tree of rebellion: Tree of Knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9, 15-16). Eating of this tree wasn’t simply sinning, because ordinary sins can be forgiven outright, something like not punishing the child with his hands in the cookie jar. A simple, “don’t do that again” will suffice. Adam lied to his wife, which is proved in her response to the serpent in Genesis 3:3. Yet, Adam wasn’t expelled from the Garden for his lie. The Tree of Knowledge represented rebellion. Rebellion cannot be forgiven outright, because rebellion involves a complete separation, and independence is in view. One could lie but not desire independence from his victim. He could also steal or be unfaithful, but still not desire independence. However, rebellion demands independence, and it cannot be simply forgiven. It must be repented of and the fruits of repentance seen, before forgiveness is possible.

The possessed man who was blind and dumb (Matthew 12:22) represents mankind present condition in that we are, by nature, spiritually blind. Therefore, if we are unable to “see” spiritually, how could we ever speak of the Spirit? Jesus healed the man outright, and it is possible for Jesus to heal any man who comes to him who is spiritually blind and dumb. However, the Pharisees represent the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. They represent rebellion, and their sins cannot be forgiven outright; they must be punished, because they stand against Jesus, the Lord’s Messiah, in everything he does.

Recalling the serpent of Genesis 3 and applying it to Jesus’ position, the Pharisees were a generation of vipers; how could they, being rebels, speak good things? They were spiritually dead (Genesis 2:17), so how could they speak of good (spiritual truth), when they didn’t know good, when it appeared right before their very eyes (Matthew 12:34, cp. verse-22).

In Matthew 12:35 Jesus is speaking of two different states of being, spiritually alive and spiritually dead, or those who have not partaken of the Tree of Knowledge and those who have (Genesis 2:9, 15-17). A good man (spiritually speaking) produces good fruit, while an evil man (spiritually speaking) can produce only evil fruit (Matthew 12:35). Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34). Therefore, every man will be judged righteous or unrighteous by the words he speaks (Matthew 12:36-37), for our words represent the fruit of our lives (cp. Matthew 12:33).

[1] Strong’s Greek Dictionary defines the word ‘sapros’ (G4550) as “corrupt, bad.” Thayer’s Greek Definitions defines the word (G4550) as “rotten, putrefied; corrupted and no longer fit for use, worn out; of poor quality, bad, unfit for use, worthless.”