Level 4
Statements Against Heterosexual Marriage Only
Matthew 7:16 – Toxic Fruit Proves The Traditional Position Is Wrong
Dr. Mark Achtemeier
Matthew 7:16 figured very prominently in Dr. Achtemeier’s change from opposing same-sex marriage to arguing in favor of it. His thoughts on this are found in his book The Bible’s Yes to Same-Sex Marriage on page XIV in the introduction. His comments there are as follows:
In point of fact, however, Jesus himself tells his followers that experiential tests are an essential tool for distinguishing true from false religious teaching. “Beware of false prophets,” he says, “. . . you will know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:15-16). In other words, the surest way to detect false teaching is to see whether it produces damaging and toxic fruits in the life and experience of the people who follow it. If we dismiss this kind of experiential test as invalid, we reject Jesus’ own instructions to his followers.
The full context of Matthew 7:16 reads:
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Dr. Achtemeier uses this approach in order to examine one particular doctrine in the church. When in church history has this approach ever been taken? When has a theologian or a pastor looked at the fruit of a person advocating a particular teaching in order to determine if the teaching was biblical? I don’t know of any. On the contrary, theologians and pastors for millennia have written papers and books etc. critiquing particular teachings. Looking at this from another angle, if a person’s life shows good fruit, does that mean that everything that person teaches is biblical? It seems like it would be impossible to link fruit from a person’s life to any particular teaching, therefore it would seem Dr. Achtemeier would have to say every one of that person’s teachings are solid. I believe John Calvin, on the other hand, taught that any theologian, at his best, is only 80% correct. In an imperfect world, just by way of a gut feel, it seems like that would be more likely to be true.
There is a critical matter that must be acknowledged in this regard. This passage is about false prophets or false teachers, not about false teachings. What Christ taught in this passage is that from the fruit a person produces one can tell if that person is a false teacher. It does not have anything to do with teachings in particular. Note from Achtemeier’s quote above, “. . . distinguishing true from false religious teaching.” (Bold and italics added.) In contrast, Christ’s words deal with teachers, “Beware of false prophets . . .” (again, bold and italics added). This is a major distinction. And Christ is not talking about someone who is wrong about 10% of what they believe. Or even wrong about 40%. He is talking about ravenous wolves, someone who is at the far extreme.
Conclusion
With this error in the understanding of this passage, this argument does not rise to being included in Level 3.