Is an apple tree an apple tree because it bears apples, or does it bear apples because it’s an apple tree? If you were to say that the bearing of apples is what makes it an apple tree then take an apple tree north and see what happens. It won’t bear apples. If an apple tree never in it’s life bears an apple is it still an apple tree? I would have to say yes, it is. There is a pear tree that never bears pears. That doesn’t change the fact that it is a pear tree.
Now, can anything but an apple tree bear apples? That’s a no brainer. Only apple trees can bear apples, just as only a child of God can bear the fruit of the Spirit. If you are a child of God, you are a child of God, the fruit that you bear doesn’t change what you are, it only justifies that you are. Why do people want to say that the fruit you bear makes you what bears the fruit. You must be an apple tree in order to bear apples, just as you must be a child of God in order to bear love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, which are the fruit of the Spirit.
Now some may say that some people bear these fruits that aren’t a child of God, such as Judas for instance. The only thing I can say about that is, man can be deceitful. We have an arrangement on our dining room table sometimes. It looks like it has fruit in it. That doesn’t make it real. Just because it looks like fruit doesn’t make it fruit. Sometimes the only way to tell if it is real is to test it.
Lastly, I’d like to say, just because a tree isn’t in the right environment to grow doesn’t hinder it’s ability to be tree. It may not be as strong or as healthy, and it may not bear fruit, but it is still a tree. The same is true for a child of God. If a child of God never hears the gospel, he may not grow and learn, or bear much fruit, that doesn’t change the fact that he is a child of God and that God reconciled there sins on the cross.
Philip
