WILL ALL BELIEVERS BEAR VISIBLE FRUIT?

One sister asked: “Is it possible to have true faith in God without a lifestyle that shows it?” This question doesn’t ask if we are saved by our lifestyle or good deeds? It is merely asking whether true faith or a new life in Christ will be accompanied by the fruit of obedience and an obedience lifestyle? Jesus addressed this very question:

·       “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 ESV)

According to Jesus, a true prophet or teacher will produce the appropriate fruits, as an apple tree which produces apples. (Notice also that the fruit don’t produce the apple tree, but the apple tree produces the fruit. Likewise, fruit doesn’t produce salvation but salvation produces the fruit. I merely mention this to point out that we are not asking about the cause of salvation but whether every saved person will produce fruit.) There are many other verses that conclude along with Jesus that a true faith, which leads to salvation, will produce fruit – the evidence of a true faith:

• If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:6-7)

• We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.  Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. (1 John 2:3-4)

However, this question about fruit is more nuanced. How? There are other verses that teach a good tree doesn’t always produce good fruit. Paul provided an example of ministers who had saving faith but were not always faithful to the Gospel:

• For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ… If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.  If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Cor. 3:11-15) 

Evidently, their faith was genuine. It was a saving faith, but their faithfulness was lacking. Others had saving faith, but they often failed to reflect this faith:

• For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.  That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.  But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment.  Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world. (1 Cor. 11:29-32)

It is disturbing to see that God had taken the life of some believers so that they wouldn’t suffer condemnation. We are reminded of Ananias and Saphira, whom God had struck down (Acts 5).

How do we put these two sets of truths together? Scripture promises that there will be fruit of salvation but that it will be a mixed bag. For one thing, we all continue to sin:

• We all stumble in many ways. (James 3:2)

·       If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)

Clearly, Scripture does not teach that we will achieve perfection in this life but only when Jesus returns for us (1 John 3:2). Consequently, we can resolve what seems to be a contradiction by understanding that an apple tree will not always produce apples. On occasion, it will produce poor quality apples. Besides, fruit is only produced in season. Therefore, when someone claims to be a prophet or a teacher, he is also claiming to be in season. Therefore, he needs to be able to show adequate fruit, although an apple need not be dangling from every branch.

Lot, Abraham’s nephew, was termed “righteous”:

·       …He rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard) (2 Peter 2:7-8)

However, Lot had been leading a compromised life. Not only had he chosen the sinful Sodom as his home, after it’s destruction, his two daughters had gotten Lot drunk to have sex with him – not exactly the best of fruit.

The Corinthian church had been quite carnal (1 Cor. 3:1). Paul reprimanded them because they were living, on occasion, as the world was living. However, they had saving faith

·        Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

Although they were behaving as those who would “not inherit the kingdom of God,” they were different. They had saving faith. I would also assume that they had fruit, but their fruit was immature. In Paul’s Second letter to the Corinthian church, he was a bit more upbeat about their fruits, describing the brethren as “a letter from Christ delivered by us” (2 Corinthians 3:3). Their fruits were becoming more apparent.

God’s measure of fruit and of faith is gracious. Even though the Israelites were in full rebellion against both God and Moses when they heard the Egyptian chariots approaching (Exodus 14), God perceived fruit where we wouldn’t have:

·       By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. (Hebrews 11:29)

In God’s eyes, Israel had exemplary faith. It led them through the Red Sea to safety. This act of obedience was also fruit.

I thank God that He sees fruit where we do not. Let this be a lesson for us to be slow to judge.

Of what does this fruit consist? Should we expect fruit from new and immature believers? I think we should expect some minimal fruit. Even though it might not be their season to bear fruit, there should be the fruit of their mouth, which accompanies water baptism:

·       Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good [cleansed] conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 3:21)

Of what does this appeal consist? Confession and repentance from sin, faith in Christ and the commitment to follow Him! Without this, water baptism is unthinkable.

·       …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. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.” For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13)

This doesn’t mean that we aren’t saved until we make a public confession “that Jesus is Lord.” The last two verses indicate that we merely have to “call on Him” in faith, according to who He is. This is because salvation is a free gift of God “lest any should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is granted apart from obedience (good deeds):

·       Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Romans 3:27-28)

Must new believers also continue to repent of their sins as evidence (fruit) of salvation? The dispensational theologian, Lewis Sperry Chafer, taught that even a refusal to repent did not impact the question of salvation. Instead, insisting on repentance for salvation violated the Gospel:

• Scripture is violated and the whole doctrine of grace confused when salvation is made to depend on anything other than believing. The divine message is not “believe and pray”…”believe and repent”…If they were as essential to salvation as believing they would never be omitted from any passage wherein the way to be saved is stated. (Major Bible Themes, 187).

However, there is a wealth of verses that indicate that repentance is required for salvation:

·       Then he [Jesus] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:45-47)

• When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." (Acts 3:19;  2:38; 8:22; 11:18; 3:36; 5:31; 17:30-31; 20:212; 2 Cor. 7:10; Tim. 2:24-25).

Some wrongly allege that repentance is an additional requirement, which turns salvation into a work of the law enabling us to boast. Instead, repentance is a product of the gift of new heart which gives rise to both faith and repentance, opposite sides of the same coin. We can’t turn to something without turning away from something else. To turn to God in faith is also to turn from the old life in repentance. Paul contrasts repentance from the work of repentance (Acts 26:19-20) in the same way that faith is contrasted from its work through love.

Besides these fruits, we commit to follow our Lord (Galatians 5:24), however difficult this might be and however many times we must repent of our failures. If we refuse to repent, we demonstrate that we lack saving faith, since repentance must accompany faith:

·       No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. (1 John 3:9)

To continue in deliberate sin is a refusal to repent, and it serves as evidence that saving faith is lacking. It is also a refusal to confess sins and receive forgiveness and cleansing (1 John 1:9). This makes us “sinners” as opposed to those who sin but have been justified and sanctified (1 Corinthians 6:11).

When we repent, we are saved, restored into fellowship (Luke 17:3), into the church (2 Corinthians 2:5-11), and to God (Jeremiah 3:12-14). We are also given a fresh start (1 John 1:9). True repentance is also an acknowledgement that we have failed to follow our Lord and a commitment to follow Him. Therefore, I think that a true repentance fulfills the requirement to seek the Lord before all else (Matthew 6:33). Repentance fulfills the most basic Scriptural requirement and eventually obedience to our Lord (1 John 1:6-7; 2:3-5; Job 42:1-8; Psalm 32, 51).

Repentance is the dividing line. It is the one act that makes the angels in heaven rejoice. Jesus concluded a parable about a lost sheep this way:

·       Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:7)

Repentance is the supreme evidence and fruit of salvation, the ultimate victory.