Matthew 7:16 Cross References - Twentieth_Century

¹⁶ By the fruit of their lives you will know them. Do people gather grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?

²⁰ Hence it is by the fruit of their lives that you will know such men.

³³ You must assume either that both tree and fruit are good, or that both tree and fruit are worthless; since it is by it's fruits that a tree is known.

⁴³ There is no such thing as a good tree bearing worthless fruit, or, on the other hand, a worthless tree bearing good fruit. ⁴⁴ For every tree is known by its own fruit. People do not gather figs off thorn bushes, nor pick a bunch of grapes off a bramble. ⁴⁵ A good man, from the good stores of his heart, brings out what is good; while a bad man, from his bad stores, brings out what is bad. For what fills a man's heart will rise to his lips.

¹² Can a fig tree, my Brothers, bear olives? or a vine bear figs? No, nor can a brackish well give good water.

¹⁰ especially those who, following the promptings of their lower nature, indulge their polluting passions and despise all control. Audacious and self-willed, they feel no awe of the Mighty, maligning them, ¹¹ even where angels, though excelling them in strength and power, do not bring against them a malignant charge before the Lord. ¹² These men, however, like animals without reason, intended by nature to be caught and killed--these men, I say, malign those of whom they know nothing, and will assuredly perish through their own corruption, ¹³ suffering themselves, as the penalty for the suffering that they have inflicted. They think that pleasure consists in the self-indulgence of the moment. They are a stain and a disgrace, indulging, as they do, in their wanton revelry, even while joining you at your feasts. ¹⁴ They have eyes only for adulteresses, eyes never tired of sin; they entice weak souls; their minds are trained to covet; they live under a curse. ¹⁵ Leaving the straight road, they have gone astray and followed in the steps of Balaam, the son of Beor, who set his heart on the reward for wrong-doing, ¹⁶ but was rebuked for his offense. A dumb animal spoke with the voice of a man, and checked the prophet's madness. ¹⁷ These men are like springs without water, or mists driven before a gale; and for them the blackest darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸ With boastful and foolish talk, they appeal to the passions of man's lower nature, and, by their profligacy, entice those who are just escaping from the men who live such misguided lives.

¹⁰ But these men malign whatever they do not understand; while they use such things as they know by instinct (like the animals that have no reason) for their own corruption. ¹¹ Alas for them! They walk in the steps of Cain; led astray by Balaam's love of gain, they plunge into sin, and meet their ruin through rebellion like that of Korah. ¹² These are the men who are blots upon your 'Love-feasts,' when they feast together and provide without scruple for themselves alone. They are clouds without rain, driven before the winds; they are leafless trees without a vestige of fruit, dead through and through, torn up by the roots; ¹³ They are wild sea waves, foaming with their own shame; they are 'wandering stars,' for which the blackest darkness has been reserved for ever. ¹⁴ To these men, as to others, Enoch, the seventh in descent from Adam, declared-- 'See! the Lord has come with his hosts of holy ones around him, ¹⁵ to execute judgment upon all men, and to convict all godless people of all their godless acts, which in their ungodliness they have committed, and of all the harsh words which they have spoken against him, godless sinners that they are!' ¹⁶ These men are always murmuring, and complaining of their lot; they follow where their passions lead them; they have arrogant words upon their lips; and they flatter men for the sake of what they can get from them. ¹⁷ But do you, dear friends, recall what was foretold by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; ¹⁸ how they used to say to you-- 'As time draws to an end, there will be scoffers, who will be led by their godless passions.' ¹⁹ These are the people--animal and unspiritual--who cause divisions.