A good tree can’t produce evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit.
Parallel translations
- KJV A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
- BSB A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
- NKJV A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
- NASB A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
- NLT A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree good fruit. Genuine and false alike will be shown by what they consistently produce.
Overview
Jesus heightens the principle: the nature of the tree fixes the kind of fruit it bears, with no contradiction between the two. This exposes the impossibility of a truly good heart producing persistently evil fruit, or a corrupt heart producing real righteousness. It points to the deeper truth that only a heart renewed by God can bear good fruit.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Gal 5:17For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire.
- 1 Jn 3:9–10Whoever is born of God doesn’t commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can’t sin, because he is born of God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 7:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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