Matthew 12:33 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 12:33

Comments

Your works reflect what you are. You can make the tree good or you can make it bad. If you were a nurseryman you would find a tree which had roots that were able to resist disease, but you might not like its fruit, so you graft a better fruit bearer onto the rootstock. Certainly they knew how to do this, as Paul’s illustration in Romans 11 shows. Possibly Christ uses this as an illustration, but equally it could simply mean, be what you are and don’t pretend to be something different. The tree will determine the crop. Deeds reflect the character. We can’t tell the kind of tree before the fruit comes. So too we cannot tell the kind of person we encounter until the fruit comes. The person may be polite – maybe the Pharisees had much charm, but when confronted by Christ the true fruit of their hearts appeared. They didn’t want to be humbled. They uttered blasphemous words, the product of hearts which were corrupted through and through.What is the force of this saying? It is an elliptical proverb, a rebuke of the Pharisees, in which Christ tells them how impossible it is for them to be anything other than what they are. The next verse sheds light on Christ’s saying here – ‘How can ye, being evil, speak good things?’ It is really a devastating demolition of their integrity. Here they are, justifying their opposition to him, and making out that they are behaving reasonably in accusing him of blasphemy. There is so much hypocrisy in this that Christ finds it necessary to strip bear all pretence from them. ‘Stop claiming to have anything good about you’, he says. ‘Either repent and turn from all this sham and drop this façade, or else be true to yourselves and be the evil people that you really are. You are completely deceived in thinking that you can make anything truly good come out of your corrupt hearts.’ He explains this to them in simple undeniable terms, for even in their state of sin they are capable of understanding their wickedness in terms of fruit coming from a tree. The word ‘make’ does not imply they have any power to change themselves, but is a shortened and powerful way of saying, ‘Be fully consistent with what you are and drop your mask; it does not work.’ Christ is driven to this strong rebuke because of the extreme nature of the sin displayed here. He often gives a gentler response to those who are simply ignorant.

Application

The preacher and the Christian witness need to point out the inconsistency that is in the world in the behaviour of those who are opposed to God. The world wants to put on an appearance of righteousness, but there is so much hypocrisy in it. It is the work of the evangelist to strip this bear and to ‘[cast] down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Questions

Some think this refers to Christ and he speaks of himself. It would then be a saying about how the Pharisees regard him – ‘make’ in the sense of consider. Either consider me to be good, or consider me to be evil, but then you must account for the miracles and the words of life that come from me, which you will never be able to do. But he does not go on to apply it to himself, and the more natural way to read it is as words addressed to the Pharisees.

Outline

Purpose

Introduction

Matthew 12:33 Commentary and Bible Study