Bring Forth Fruit

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing
yourselves to be my disciples.”
(Jn 15:8)

In the Gospel of Luke it is recorded that John the Baptist said to the multitudes who were coming to him for baptism,

“You brood of vipers!   Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Lk 3:7-8) 

The King James Version reads, “Bring forth fruit worthy of repentance.” John was demanding evidence of repentance before he would baptize them.   The usage of the Greek word translated “produce” and “bring forth” is the same as used of a plant bringing forth fruit, the fruit coming from within the plant.   John continued to warn the crowds.

“The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire.”(Lk 3:9)

To this warning to repent and bring forth, good fruit (evidence of repentance) the crowds responded, “What should we do then?” John’s reply to the crowd as recorded in v. 11-14, gives examples of bringing forth good fruit.

“The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one with food should do the same”(Lk 3:11)

To the tax collectors he said, “Don’t collect any more than you are required to.” (Lk 3:13) To the soldiers he said, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely...” (Lk 3:14) Verse 18 records that “...with many other words John exhorted the people...” To exhort is to warn, urge, appeal to, etc.   John exhorted them to repent (turn from their current way of life) and to give evidence (bring forth fruit) of that turning.

The ICC teaches that bringing forth (bearing) fruit is baptizing people (i.e. making disciples).  This they say is the evidence of being a true disciple.   John, however, says nothing about making disciples. These people were not yet disciples themselves, so how could John be instructing them to go and make more disciples?  According to Luke 3:9-14, John’s comments about bearing fruit had to do with behaving righteously (evidence of repentance). Not once does John equate bearing fruit with baptism (i.e. making disciples).

The ICC also teaches that baptizing someone makes them your personal fruit, and that if you have not been personally fruitful (baptizing people) you are in danger of being cast into the fire. (Jn 15:6) This teaching creates very zealous convert makers. It also heaps guilt and fear upon those who are not as successful as others in baptizing people (bringing numbers into the group). Is this teaching biblical or a gross misuse of Scripture?

The Bible teaches that we are united to Christ and have the life of Christ within us through faith. (Gal 2:20, 1Jn 5:12-13, 1Cor 6:17) We are in union with Him through faith. In the Gospel of John, Jesus is recorded as saying,

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”(Jn 15:5)

This has to do with the spiritual union that individual believers have with Christ Jesus, through faith, and the new life within each of them. If the life of Christ Jesus is present in a person and that person continues to yield to Him, they will bear much fruit; fruit which is good, fruit of the Spirit, “...the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.” (Php 1:11) It will happen naturally because they are remaining in union with Him and His words are remaining in them. The more a believer grows and abides in his union with Christ, the more that person becomes like Christ and conformed to His image.   This is in no way referring to making disciples, baptizing people, or making someone your personal “fruit”.   One believer cannot be another believer’s fruit.   There is absolutely nothing in Scripture to support such a teaching.   Being fruitful or bearing good fruit is the outward manifestation of Christ’s work in a person. And just as one can bear good fruit, one can also bear bad fruit.   Scripture states that every person (tree) is recognized by his or her “own” fruit, the outward display or overflow of the inward life which they are yielding to, be it of Christ or the sinful nature. As Paul wrote in his epistle to the Christians at Rome,

“So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death.” (Rom 7:4-5)

This passage appears in the context of Romans 6, 7 and 8, in which Paul is presenting a contrast between being controlled by the sinful nature and being led by the Spirit of God.   One produces sin ( “fruit for death”), while the other produces righteousness (“fruit to God”). It is not speaking of making good disciples versus making bad disciples. Paul also wrote in his epistle to the Ephesians,

“For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, Live as children of the light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)...” (Eph 5:8-9)

And as Jesus said,

“If a man remains in me (in the Lord) and I in him, he will bear much fruit (fruit of the light) ”  (Jn 15:5)

“What I mean is this: One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas (Peter)’; still another, ‘I follow Christ’. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?” (1 Cor 1:12-13)

Then Paul states most emphatically,

“I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name.   (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.)” (1 Cor 1:14-16)

Paul was in Corinth for over a year and a half (Acts 18:11), devoting himself “...exclusively to preaching.” (Acts 18:5), and Scripture states “...many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.” (Acts 18:8) This means that for over a year and half Paul had been instrumental in many people coming to know Christ. Yet he, himself, had baptized only one of them; that was Crispus, the synagogue ruler. (Acts 18:8) The entire household of Crispus “...believed in the Lord” (Acts 18:8) , but Paul had baptized only Crispus. (1Cor 1:14) And it was after Crispus was baptized, and from the point where God spoke to Paul in a vision, that Scripture states, “So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.” (Acts 18:11) The King James Version states that Paul, “...continued there a year and six months...”.   So it was after Crispus was baptized that Paul stayed 18 months or more (Acts 18:18) , before leaving for Ephesus.   And during that time he did not baptize a single soul.

“What about Gaius and the household of Stephanas?”, one might ask. “Paul did say that he had baptized them, too.”   This is true. He did not, however, say that he had baptized them during his stay in Corinth. In his first epistle to Corinth, written some two years after his departure for Ephesus, Paul mentions people he knew were currently in Corinth. He does not say, however, that they were from Corinth. Paul states that the “household of Stephanas” were the first converts in Achaia (1Cor 16:15) , a region encompassing several cities in southern Greece, Athens and Corinth being two of them.   Paul made a stop in Athens before traveling on to Corinth (Acts 17:15, 18:1) , and a number of people in Athens became believers. (Acts 17:34) This means that for the household of Stephanas to be the first converts in Achaia, they would had to have been converted either in Athens or at some point previous to Athens.   As for Gaius, there is only speculation as to whether he was a native of Corinth or Paul’s traveling companion from Macedonia (Acts 19:29) , where Paul had been previous to his journey to Corinth. Being one of Paul’s traveling companions would have meant that he was a fellow worker in Christ, a believer (saved).   Thus he would have to have been converted before ever traveling with Paul from Macedonia to Corinth.

In any case, the only person that Scripture clearly identifies as being from Corinth, or being baptized by Paul during his stay in Corinth, is Crispus. (1Cor 1:14, Acts 18:8) If, as the ICC teaches, bearing fruit = baptizing people (making disciples), then the apostle Paul was not very “fruitful” in Corinth. According to this one view (“bearing fruit” = baptizing people), even though Paul was the instrument used by God which brought many to the knowledge of Christ, Paul was, himself, lacking in the area of personal fruitfulness.   He had remained unfruitful for, at least, a year and a half. 

Recently, I read a quote from a speech made by Marty Fuqua, a World Sector Leader of the ICC, teaching this one view of “bearing fruit”. He was rebuking others in church leadership when he said:

“Some of you have lost your competitiveness...I don’t want anybody’s Bible Talk to out baptize me...Some of you have so little competitive ambition...You’re dragging your sorry little butt around with five baptisms a month...Listen brother, you’re a man of God.   You better get your head up, and you better start being something, and get some competitive fire. Nice guys finish last...you’re a wimp, you’re a sissy.” (Marty Fuqua, The Cutting Edge, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92)

If 5 baptisms a month is considered doing badly (“dragging your sorry little butt around”), I wonder what Marty Fuqua would say about Paul’s zero baptisms in a year and a half. Would Marty Fuqua consider Paul a “wimp” or a “sissy”?   Would he blast Paul for not having “competitive fire” or for being a poor example to the other disciples? The following two quotes are from speeches made by Kip McKean, the undisputed leader of the ICC.

“And I put before you, we’ve got a lot of people that are numb.   You say, ‘Why do you say that?’   Cause I think we’ve got a lot of people that aren’t personally fruitful here.   Let’s just ask the question. How many of you, we’ll make it since last September first, have met somebody person--, not a contact through somebody, but have met somebody, studied with them, and baptized them? Let’s raise our hand. Now I want you to look around...I want you to look around.   Now all the people who haven’t done it, you raise your hands. I want you to look and you ask me if we have a radical movement. No, keep your hands up! If you know those people, I want you talking to them after this session.   And I want you finding out what’s going on.” (Kip McKean, Malachi: God’s Radical Demand for Remaining Radical, Manila World Leadership Conference, Aug 94)

“Have you been personally fruitful, and let me spell it out for you.   Someone you met, someone you studied with, and someone you personally baptized.   Who’s been personally fruitful since last year?   Raise your hand.   Well, it’s better, but I want you to look around.  These people with their hands raised are not to be commended, they’ve simply done their duty.   But you that don’t, you need to be rebuked! You’re in sin!   Sin of cowardice, sin of unbelief, and the sin of laziness. And you need to talk to someone right after this message.” (Kip McKean, Preach The Word, Johannesburg World Leadership Conference, Aug 95)

To those who had not baptized someone in a year’s time, Kip said, “...you need to be rebuked. You’re in sin.   Sin of cowardice, sin of unbelief, and sin of laziness.” Would Kip describe Paul as numb?   lazy? In sin? A coward? In unbelief? According to this one view (and Kip McKean), Paul was in major sin and needed to be rebuked.   And depending on how many or how few he had or had not baptized elsewhere, he could actually have been in danger of being cut down, “sawed off the vine”, and thrown into the fire.   According to this one view, if you are not continuously making disciples (baptizing people) you can lose your salvation. This belief is plainly evident in the following statement made by the South Florida Region Leader of the ICC.

“The expectation I have when I go fishing is I catch fish...See, I think for many of us here, we’ve got to ask ourselves a question, ‘Were you personally fruitful last year?’   You know what the Bible says about the tree and the fruit?   It says Jesus looked at the tree and it wasn’t bearing fruit. He was gonna cut it down; said, ‘no, no, no, give it one more year.’   Let me tell you what, God prunes the church here.   And the dead branches that aren’t bearing fruit, God prunes.   That’s what the Bible says...We’ve got to get back to the call to fish.   AMEN?!!!”(Terry Folker, The Call to Fish, South Florida Church of Christ, Jan 4th, 1998)

He then stated in the very same sermon, “Cause if you don’t know how to fish, then you’re not going to make it to heaven.” (Terry Folker, ibid) This belief is also evident in the following statements made by Kip McKean and John Hafer.

“Right here the text is very, very, clear.   It centers in verse 16 of chapter 15.   Jesus simply says, ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you for a purpose; to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last.’   And this is our theme this morning, to go and bear fruit. I do not believe that this is the fruit that Paul speaks about in Galatians, chapter 5, in verses 22 and 23, when he talks about the fruit of the Spirit...” (Kip McKean, Go And Bear Much Fruit, Discipleship Publications International (DPI) Archive Cassette Series, side 1)

“In 2-7 here, we find that Jesus spends the entirety of the passage talking about the inner relationship to producing fruit, making disciples, with the relationship that one has to God.” (Kip McKean, ibid)

“...the acid test of the ministry is the fruit of making disciples. You bring glory to God by bearing much fruit. John 15, verse 8--he’s talking about disciples right there, that have been baptized in to Jesus Christ.” (Kip McKean, Congregational Meeting, Boston, May 6, 1990)

“You know, when you hear somebody saying, ‘This person is getting baptized’, that’s exciting because fruit is being born in the vine.” (John Hafer, Getting Tied In, Oahu Church of Christ, Aug 30, 98)

“You know, when we look at our congregation, the Lord has blessed us in a great way. Already this year we’ve seen almost 400 people come to Christ and be baptized.   You know, I’m glad as a church we are producing abundant fruit.” (Kip McKean, Go and Bear Much Fruit, DPI Archive Cassette Series)

“ What gives glory to God is being abundantly fruitful...I appreciate Henry and Marilyn and the great changes they’ve made for the Lord.  I think that is why this summer, in their house church, they have seen, just this summer, 17 people baptized into Christ. Now that’s abundant fruitfulness.” (Kip McKean, ibid)

“Do you have lasting fruit?   Are the people you’re discipling staying faithful, and then producing other people?” (Kip McKean, ibid)

“You know sometimes we think it’s so hard to bear fruit.   It’s soooo hard to bear fruit.   I don’t know if I can bear fruit....Jesus had a verse for you. ‘Apart from me you can do nothing’. When you’re not fruitful, you’re not remaining in Jesus.” (John Hafer, Getting Tied In, Oahu Church of Christ, Aug 3o, 98)

“Everybody’s expected to bring visitors every week!   They don’t bring a visitor, we ask why.   Not pressure, I’m concerned about the soul; you’re not fruitful, you’re going to be sawed off the vine.” (Kip McKean, Super Church, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92)

Kip teaches, as do many in leadership, that “fruit” are baptized disciples.   Show me just one verse of Scripture that states that the activity of bearing fruit and the activity of baptizing people are one in the same activity.   Show me just one Scripture where Jesus, Paul, or anyone else refers to a disciple as a “fruit”.   And show me any Scripture which backs up Kip’s assertion that Jesus, in John 15:8, is talking about making disciples. The only support he gives for his assertion, concerning what is meant by ‘bearing fruit’ in John 15, is the following statement.

“Our text says that God chose us to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. There is only one other text in all of God’s word that has the command ‘Go’ with it.   And that’s simply given in Matthew, chapter 28, in verse 19, in which the Bible teaches to ‘go’ and make disciples.” (Kip McKean, Go and Bear Much Fruit, DPI Archive Cassette Series)

Apart from Kip giving absolutely no scriptural support whatsoever, most likely because he knows that no scriptural support exists, the above statement is grossly incorrect. I looked up the word ‘go’ in The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible and found it used in many commands given by God. Here are just a few examples from the Old Testament: Ex 3:16, Ex 4:12, Ex 4:19, Ex 6:11, Ex 32:34, Deut 5:30, Deut 9:23, and Judg 20:23.   And that is just a sampling from the first few books.   Here are a few from the New Testament: Mt 8:13, Mt 8:32, Mt 9:13, Mt 10:6-8, Mt 11:4, Mt 21:2, Mt 26:18, Acts 5:20, Acts 8:26, Acts 8:29, Acts 9:15, Acts 22:21. As you can see, there are many texts in God’s word, with God or Jesus as the speaker, which include the command “go”. Besides all this, the word “go” doesn’t even exist in the Greek manuscript of John 15:8. Kip McKean’s claim is not only unfounded, it is refuted by Scripture.

These quotes by Marty, Terry, John and Kip, speaking of competitive fire, ambition, numerical expectations, cowardice, being “sawed off the vine”, not making it to heaven, and one’s relationship to God being dependent on one’s ability to convert people, not only show the tremendous pressure and guilt heaped upon ICC members by their leadership to “crank” out numbers [“...crank the ever livin snot outta that place!” (Marty Fuqua, The Super Church, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92) ], but they violate a host of Scriptures, not to mention the very nature of God.

Many people have also been kicked out of the ICC by leadership for failing to recruit enough new members (i.e. bear enough fruit).   For example, according to an article in the Evening Standard (a London publication), 400 members were kicked out of the London Church of Christ in 1993. [See: Worry over 'disciples' as church sect expels 400] According to the article, Mrs. Fiona Ghalustians, the spokeswoman for the London Church of Christ, admitted that most of the people were expelled for failure to recruit new members. She is quoted as saying, “These people are not true disciples.   You have to commit yourself to Jesus totally - and if you can’t do that then you can’t remain among us.” (Worry Over ‘disciples’ As Church Sect Expels 400, Evening Standard (London), Jan 22, 1993)

The Bible does not teach that one’s commitment to Jesus, or one’s status as a “true disciple”, is gauged by how many people one baptizes.   In claiming that it does, the ICC has hurt, scarred, and damaged a lot of people; especially since those people have been taught that all who leave (or are expelled from) the ICC are damned and going to hell! These absurd abuses are all a result of this false interpretation of John 15 and of the true meaning of “bearing fruit”. Getting back to his epistle to the Corinthians, Paul then says something totally contrary to all of these quotes, and to this one view of “bearing fruit” equaling conversion (baptism) by stating,

“For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel...” (1 Cor. 1:17)

Paul is stating that his goal is not to baptize people, but to preach to gospel.   He even states that Christ Jesus did not send him to baptize.  Therefore, according to this one view, this would mean that Paul was not sent to “bear fruit”.   And if Paul was not sent to “bear fruit”, then Jesus was contradicting Himself, God’s will, and many Scriptures which command us to “go and bear fruit”. On top of this, if Paul was not sent to baptize people, then this one view would claim that Paul could not have been a true disciple.  

Going further, if Jesus did not send Paul to baptize, then it would be Jesus’ fault if Paul (a branch) had produced no “fruit” (personally baptized disciples). This means that it would be Jesus’ fault if Paul were “sawed off the vine” and thrown into the fire. Sounds absurd, but taken to it’s fullest logical conclusion, that’s what this view would have to mean. It would also mean that Paul’s salvation would’ve been directly dependent on how many people he had baptized.  No matter how you put it, this is adding to the finished work of Jesus on the cross and earning one’s salvation.  Contrary to what some people might believe, a disciple preaches the gospel and shares his or her faith because of Christ in them, not to gain their salvation and escape the fires of hell.

If what Paul said about not being sent to baptize in verse 17 is true, then he could not have believed that baptizing people equals “bearing fruit” or he would have put much more effort and been much more aggressive in baptizing people to ensure his own salvation through his “fruitfulness”.   Such was not the case.   Paul was earnest about one thing, preaching the gospel.   Yes, he taught about baptism.   In fact, if Paul is indeed the author of the book of Hebrews then he considered “instruction about baptisms” (note the plural form of the word) an elementary teaching, as he did “the laying on of hands”. (Heb 6:1-2) His zeal, however, was for preaching the gospel.   And for him the gospel message was very simply, “...turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” (Acts 20:21)

The following are just a few of the many verses within which Paul expounded on the subject of preaching the gospel, the imperativeness of preaching it, and his compulsion to do so.

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me---the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24)

“Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach.   Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16)

“Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you take your stand.  By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.   Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” (1 Cor 15:1-2)

He did not say that they were to prove their repentance by how many disciples they could make, but rather, like John the Baptist, was exhorting them to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. (Lk 3:8) Do not be deceived.   Know what the word of God says.   Pray to God for wisdom and knowledge and revelation of truth, that you may be able to discern between correct and incorrect doctrine.   Study to show yourself approved and test everything by the scriptures.

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ---to the glory and praise of God.” (Php 1:9-11)

AMEN         

Addendum

In October of 97, Kip McKean wrote a letter to the L.A. church in which he claimed to have redefined his ideas concerning personal fruitfulness.  He wrote:

“Let me remind you that since the Discipleship Series, we have redefined personal fruitfulness as either ‘planting’ or ‘watering’.   Therefore, let me encourage each disciple to not be a dead-end disciple, but to strive to be personally fruitful in one of three ways. One: meet someone who becomes a disciple.   Two: study and become best friends with someone who becomes a disciple.   Or three: to baptize your child into Christ.”

This quote was taken from an article entitled: The Cutting Edge, A Letter to the LA Church, by Kip McKean. It appears on page 3 of the Dec 97 / Jan 98 issue of The LA Story.   Apart from Kip admitting that something (else) he has been teaching (for almost 20 years) was incorrect and in need of being "redefined", he is still teaching that being personally fruitful has to do with getting someone baptized. He is still teaching that "fruit" is something (or someone) produced by baptism.   He appears to still believe that a disciple (convert) is a “fruit”. Even his three ways of being personally fruitful are conditional.

1) “Meet someone who becomes a disciple”or, in other words, who gets baptized.
2) “Study and become best friends with someone who becomes a disciple” or, in other words, gets baptized.
3) “to baptize your child into Christ”

Not only does Kip limit “personal fruitfulness” to a person’s effort in the area of evangelism (planting and watering), but he limits it to evangelism which results in a baptism.   Without the result (baptism), the effort being made (planting and watering) is not considered as being “fruitful”.   Kip is actually contradicting himself by claiming that “planting” and “watering” is “personal fruitfulness” when it is clear by his definition that those activities cannot be considered “personal fruitfulness” unless a baptism results. I wonder if Kip would consider someone “personally fruitful” if they studied and became best friends with a person, but that person never became a disciple. I wonder if Kip is aware of the contradiction within his re-definition.

Bibliography

¹ Lightfoot J.B. and Harmer J.R. The Letters of Ignatius. The Apostolic Fathers, 2nd ed. London: Macmillan, 1889. Repr. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981. (p. 91)

² ibid. (p. 100)

³ ibid. The Letters of Polycarp. (p. 123)

⁴ ibid.  (p. 129)

⁵ ibid.  The Shepherd of Hermas. (p. 240)

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