Bearing fruit in Christianity is the positive transformation in a person’s life that comes from obedience to the word of God. The term bear fruit and its concept are widely spread in the Bible, but it is very noticeable in the Gospels because Jesus Christ and His forerunner John the Baptist regularly instructed the people to bear fruit. Jesus or John the Baptist telling his Jewish audience to bear fruit is equivalent to Paul telling the Christians of Ephesus to live a life worthy of their calling, or a modern-day preacher telling the congregation to lead a righteous life.
The meaning of bear fruit or bearing fruit can be discovered in one of the parables of Jesus; specifically, the Parable of the Sower. According to the parable, a sower went out to sow seed on his farm. While scattering the seeds, some fell on the wayside and birds ate them. Some fell on stony places and germinated but because they had no root, they withered quickly when the sun scorched them. Some seeds fell among thorns, and though they germinated and grew, the thorns choked them such that they could not bear fruit. Lastly, some seeds fell on good soil where they grew to maturity and bore fruits. Luke 8:4-15; Matthew 13:1-9; Matthew 13:18-23.
According to Jesus’ explanation, the seed stands for the word of God. The seed that fell on good soil stands for those who receive the word of God, understand it, and bear fruit, some hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty (Matthew 13:23). The good soil was the only soil that was able to bear fruit. It was able to bear fruit because it received the seed. The good soil could not bear fruit on its own independent of the seed. In the same way, fruit-bearing cannot occur without the seed, which is the word of God. First, one needs to have the word of God, and, by obeying the word, he will be able to bear fruit. So we understand that we bear fruit from the seed, which is the word of God.
Therefore, bearing fruit in the Bible means doing good works such as honesty, modesty, love, etc. by applying the word of God in your life. In other words, fruit-bearing is doing good deeds by applying the word of God in your life.
No matter your personality or temperament, you cannot bear fruit without the word of God. Some people are naturally optimistic, social, short-tempered, quiet, relaxed, and peaceful. You might easily take their temperament for bearing fruit. Your temperament is not bearing fruit. Bearing fruit is where you have learned the word of God and put it into practice to produce good deeds. It is a conscious decision to follow God’s word.
But the word of God offends many who walk on the face of the earth. Worldly people—unrepented people, unbelievers, and their kind—do not know God or have any dealings with Him and do not accept His word to walk in it. Hence, they cannot bear fruit. Others such as false professing Christians also take offense at the word of God; that is part of the reason why they switch from one church to another to find a place where their itchy ears would find comfort away from teachings that expose and rebuke sin.
Who then can bear fruit? Jesus described a situation called ‘Remain in me and I in you’ as the condition necessary for any person to bear fruit. Remaining in Christ means that though the Christian life is fraught with difficulties and hardships, remain in Christ; though the world would mock and hate your faith, remain in Christ; where remaining in Christ requires that you never stop believing in Jesus and let His word guide your thoughts, choices, and actions.
Having remained in Christ, Christ also promises to remain in you; where Christ remaining in you means His Spirit will dwell in you to teach, guide, and comfort you; He will not let trials and temptation turn you aside from the truth; and you shall receive from Christ every help and influence that your soul needs in order to preserve and save you to eternal life.
If you are still unsure what bearing fruit is like, these are examples: In the Scriptures, we see a Samaritan who found a Jew beaten to the point of death. Though Jews and Samaritans don’t get along well, he showed him kindness and saved his life. Go and show kindness to all, even enemies and strangers – it is bearing fruit. In the Scriptures, we find Jesus crucified, yet in his last words, he forgave his enemies. Forgive all, both loved ones and enemies – it is bearing fruit.
The application of the Scriptures in your life makes you bear all kinds of fruit such as hospitality, honesty, modesty, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23 as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Bearing fruit is not only about personal growth but also about the positive impact on others. By walking in obedience to God’s word, you undergo the positive transformation called bearing fruit.
Bearing fruit is important because it shows that we are true followers of Christ. Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:8). Fruitfulness is a sign of spiritual maturity and a way to identify with Christ and bring glory to God.
It takes little to no effort to see in the Bible that God expects all Christians to bear fruit. In the Parable of the Fig Tree (Luke 13:6-9), Jesus said the master wanted the unfruitful fig tree to be cut down from his garden for it was useless. When Jesus talked about the true vine and its branches in John 15:1-2, He said the gardener would remove every branch that did not bear fruit.
As the gardener will remove all branches that bear no fruit, so will God take from his church all professing Christians who give no evidence by their lives that they are followers of Jesus. God uses various ways to remove unfruitful Christians from the church. God may use church discipline to remove unfruitful Christians from the church. Since they do not conform to holy life, unfruitful Christians do not humble themselves nor bear with any discipline that the church met out to them for their immorality. They more often than not leave the church and never return or they attend a church open to their kind.
Sometimes, God leaves them to fall into temptation or be drawn away from the church by the deceitfulness of riches and the cares of the world. Sometimes, God allows them to be frightened out of the church by persecution and tribulation from the world (Mt 13:21-22). Sometimes, God removes them from the church by killing them as He did to Ananias and Sapphira. Sometimes, God allows unfruitful Christians to end up in the same circumstances as Judas or Achan to expose their character, leading to their falling away from the faith and the church.
As time passes, genuine Christians who bear fruit may fall in one way or another. However, what sets them apart from the unfruitful Christians is that they rise from the fall, and do not continue sinning or make sin their habit. They live up to the Scripture that says a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again (Pro 24:16).
Bearing fruit is not always easy. Challenges such as personal struggles, distractions, sin, persecution, people’s utterances and attitudes, and discouragement can hinder bearing fruit. However, by relying on God’s strength and staying connected to Him, we can overcome these obstacles and continue to bear fruit to the glory of God.