A few years ago I was listening to a local Christian radio station and on two different programs in the same day I heard "you will know them by their fruit" referring to Christians. In other words you will know a Christian by his or her works.

I struggled greatly with this because for the first couple of years of my Christian life I can't say anyone would have known me by my fruit. In fact, most of my life at that time I lived in sin. To be even more truthful to this very day I still am not always known by my fruit.

While I struggled with the idea of knowing Christians by their fruit, I also knew it was not wise to base my belief on my experience alone. So I began to look into what the Bible says about the subject. First, I remebered the church of Corinth where sin was so rampant that Paul said immorality existed within the church that was not even among the Gentiles (1 Cor 5:1). Not only was the church not producing the fruit of God, but some even did things that the world was not guilty of doing. Part of Paul's addressing the problem was that the church turned a blind eye to the problem. But even having those who sinned more disgraceful than that of the world Paul still began his letter by calling them the church of God, sanctified, and saints (1 Cor 1:2), signifying that they were Christians the very children of God even though they were most certainly not known by their fruits.

It was not just the church at Corinth that had problems though they were known for their problems. We see somthing similar in James chapter two. James points out that faith without works (fruit) is dead. In other words his readers claimed to have faith and according to James true faith in Jesus should produce works. These folks had become free from Judaism and now experiencing their freedom from the law they used it as a license instead of being free to serve Christ from the heart by faith. So they were not known by their fruits either, but that did not stop James from calling them his brethren.

And then there was Jesus who said, "You will know them by their fruits" in Matthew 7:16,20. He was speaking about two paths, one that leads to life that few find and one that leads to destruction that many enter into. And in speaking of the two paths He warns those whom He is speaking to "beware of the false prophets." A false prophet would be one who would lead you astray. Now I don't know what you know about prophets of God, but a prophet was a spokesman for God. Prophets did not lean on their own human understanding but yielded themselves to God that He may speak His wisdom through them (Ezekiel 13, 3,7). So, you should know a prophet by his fruit (works). In fact in the Old Testament if someone claiming to be a prophet was found to be not true he was stoned. Now I know we have a lot of readers who are from the late sixties so let me clarify. The prophet was not given a joint to smoke to get high (stoned). He was killed by having large stones thrown at him. So Jesus was talking about identifying prophets not one who was a Christian.

Therefore, I do not believe that the Bible says that we will know a Christian by their fruit but lets take a look at John 15 before we close the book on the subject. In this chapeter, Jesus addresses the issue of fruit bearing. First in v.2 He says, "every branch in Me" so He is speaking to Christians because we are the only ones who are in Christ. Then in v. 4 & 5 He talks about abiding. He says the one who abides (yields) in Christ "bears much fruit". Just because one is in Christ does not mean that He abides in Christ. But the one who is in Him and chooses to yield his or her life to the life of Christ will produce His fruit. So you will know a Christan who abides in Christ by their fruit.

Oh and by the way, for the two of you who were brave enough to call me a fruit behind the secret walls of the internet (cowards), it's true I am a fruit. Father has made me a new creature... I am the work (fruit) of God in Christ.