Matthew 7:13-29: One With Authority
Those in Jesus’ audience who agree with his teaching yet do nothing about it are in great danger. The Christian life was never meant to be easy, and true followers are expected to work hard at aligning their lives with these exhortations.
true faith will be seen in the works it produces. No good works means there was never faith in the first place
The “narrow gate” does not so much mean that only a small minority will enter it (the emphasis in Luke 13:24, which uses the image of a “door” rather than a “gate”) as that the entrance will entail great difficulty, restricting admission on those things Jesus has prohibited
The broad road is the way of the world, which accepts any pattern of life. People can carry anything they wish along it, so “many” will travel this road.
the final destination of such a road is eternal “destruction.”
The true gate to salvation (articular τὴν ζωήν, “the [eternal] life”) is quite narrow, and the road is as well.
There is also the difficult ethical path demanded in 5:17–7:12; such a life in this evil world will be nigh impossible without the power of the Spirit and the love of God in the life of the believer.
Only a “few” will be willing to travel that difficult road, but the final result will be eternal “life.” Jesus has made the options crystal clear: take the easy way and find destruction, or walk the difficult path and attain true life.
False prophets lead those in God’s flock to abandon the narrow road for the broad one and thereby lead them to destruction.
These are like the “hypocrites” of 6:2, 5, 16, who pretend to be one thing but inside are quite another. The “sheep” are the citizens of the new covenant community, the congregation of God, and the false prophets/teachers counterfeit themselves in the “clothing” of leaders of the community.
The use of the “wolf” metaphor to designate false teachers who “snatch away, plunder” (ἅρπαγες) God’s people is found often (Isa 11:6; Jer 5:6; Ezek 22:27; Sir 13:17; 1 En. 89:10–27; Matt 10:16; John 10:12; Acts 20:29; Did. 16:13), and the idea of false prophets/teachers as part of the last days is developed in 24:4–12, 23–28; 2 Thess 2:3–8; 1 Tim 4:1; 2 Tim 3:1; 2 Pet 3:3; 1 John 2:18). So these appear as genuine believers but hide their true intentions, which is to tear apart (“rapacious”) the flock.
“Fruit” in the NT is more than just the deeds of people but everything they are (e.g., the “fruit of the Spirit” in Gal 5:22–23), including what they say as well as how they act.
A preacher can wow a congregation with rhetorical skill yet fail to live a life of obedience or exemplify the lifestyle of a true follower. It is as true today as then that people can get caught up with the charisma of gifted speakers and fail to look at their lives. Superstars among Christian leaders can get away virtually with anything today
evil can never produce good fruit. Jesus uses the idea of bad trees and good fruit. The bad trees are the false prophets. From a distance the small blackberries on a buckthorn can be mistaken for grapes, and the small flowers on some thistles can make one think a fig is growing, but closer inspection will always reveal the truth.
All believers should be “Berean Christians,” who “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what [their preachers] said was true” (Acts 17:11).
The life and teachings of every leader must at all times exemplify scriptural demands, for they will give an account to God (Heb 13:17; Jas 3:1). It is one thing to perform miracles (v. 22) and quite another to do God’s will (v. 21).
σαπρόν is a strong term, indicating a “rotten” or “decayed” tree (BAGD, 742). Such a tree will produce bad fruit, if any at all (cf. Jas 3:12). So it is with a false prophet Since God is not a part of their lives, they cannot in any sense produce ultimate good; sooner or later their basically evil (πονηρός, note the double meaning) nature will surface and be seen in their lives and their teaching.
Since God is involved with true prophets, their lives will show his presence. But the false prophet will never be able to consistently perform good deeds or teach truth. Sooner or later their true nature will surface.
The point of the whole section is that the saints must at all times be watchful to make certain their leaders fulfill their calling
This does not mean a critical attitude (so 7:1–5) but it does entail loving concern and spiritual vigilance. Too many charlatans have appeared throughout church history for us to be complacent.
Without the ethics and morality of this Sermon, any so-called Christian message is false.
:19 Every tree that fails to produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire (πᾶν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται). Jesus now gives a prophecy regarding the final destination of false prophets (see also v. 23). The prophetic present “is going to be cut down” (ἐκκόπτεται) refers to the inevitability of judgment for such charlatans; it is “going to” (or “must”) happen. This imagery is similar to John 15:2, 6, where fruitless branches are first “cut off,” then “picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” In 3:10 the Baptist says the same thing to the Pharisees and Sadducees (with the image of the “ax … at the root of the trees” to stress imminent judgment), so this was a standard prophecy of judgment. Without fruit there is no hope, for fruit is the necessary proof that one has truly believed in Jesus (Gal 2:8–10; Jas 2:14–26). Jesus elsewhere uses “Gehenna” as his metaphor for the fiery judgment to come (Matt 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33).
Yet the point is clear: such deeds are insufficient in themselves; what matters is not acts of power but the fruit of the Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 12–14).
In 1 Cor 13:2 Paul says that a person who prophesies and performs great miracles but has no love is “nothing.” God wants a life of righteous obedience, not just spectacular deeds. The false prophets and their followers even claim to have done this “in Jesus’ name,”
Their false confession is met by Jesus’ own confession (called “judicial language” that is solemn and public and connotes irreversibility) that he never knew them as true disciples.
In other words, these people like Judas pretended to be disciples and probably even acted like disciples (indeed, possibly thought they were disciples) but were never actually committed to him. They were committed to the power Jesus represented and to the status they thought they had, but they never allowed the will of God to control their actions.
It is inadequate to speak without doing (7:21–23) and also inadequate to hear without doing (7:24–27). Obedience as the necessary result of true hearing was emphasized in the OT (Deut 28:15, 31:12; Josh 1:7–8; Ezek 33:31–32), Judaism (m. ʾAbot 3:18; b. Sanh. 106b), and the NT (Matt 12:50; Rom 2:13; Jas 1:22–25; 2:14–20).
The emphasis is on the “great” destruction as a picture of the great judgment to come. In v. 13 destruction is promised to those who choose the wide gate and the broad path, and that final destruction is pictured in the burning of the rotten trees in v. 19 and the destruction of the house built on sand here. Jesus concludes his Sermon by making it clear that the truths taught therein are not merely to be heard but must be heeded. Unless the life is changed, no salvation has occurred, and at the final judgment ultimate destruction will be the verdict.
Matthew wants us to know the effect that Jesus’ teaching had on the bystanders, and it stands not just as the first discourse but as the quintessential discourse that sets the scene for everything else.
The amazement of the crowds is frequent in Matthew after Jesus teaches (13:54; 19:25; 22:33), emphasizing the power and authority of his teaching. The crowds must have followed Jesus and his disciples up the mountain (he seems to want to escape the crowds in 5:1) and are reacting with astonishment at his message
The scribes were the legal experts of Jesus’ time, the lawyers as well as teachers of law (see on 2:4; 5:20). The style of the scribes is found in the Talmud; they tended to repeat earlier teaching and interact at a secondary level