Observations on Fruit and Works

A pear bears witness to the tree from which it blossoms.  The pear states plainly that the tree is not an oak, or a stalk of wheat, or a weed.  The pear is a pear because the tree produced it, and because it is in a very real fact, part of the tree.  It is absurdly silly to declare that the tree is a pear tree because the fruit made it so.  Likewise, a man’s production (his work) does not justify the man; rather, it flows from who he is.  His produce is evidence that he is part of a particular tree.  His works are his fruit.  If a man has never born fruit, then simply put, he was never part of the tree.  At best, he is part of something else.  Same goes for the Christian.  He is not saved by his works, but they are, in fact, a testimony that he has been saved.  If a man doesn’t produce good works, says the Apostle James, then it’s because he never had any faith.  In other words, he was never saved.