The Meaning of Matthew 3:8 Explained

Matthew 3:8

KJV: Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

YLT: bear, therefore, fruits worthy of the reformation,

Darby: Produce therefore fruit worthy of repentance.

ASV: Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance:

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Bring forth  therefore  fruits  meet  for repentance: 

What does Matthew 3:8 Mean?

Context Summary

Matthew 3:1-12 - The Herald Prepares The Way
Matthew's Gospel heralds the Kingdom. We are allowed to see and listen to the forerunner, whose voice again awoke the hearts of men with prophetic utterance after a silence of four hundred years. He leaps into the arena with the suddenness of Elijah.
His message was twofold-the need for repentance and the announcement of the nearness of the Kingdom; it thrilled his generation with a strange wonder and interest. All of the southern part of the country seemed to empty itself into the Jordan valley. Yes, if a man is not a reed shaken by the wind, not effeminate in court dress, not a copy but an original, who speaks what he sees and knows of God, men will come to Him in every age.
To us also John the Baptist must come, if we shall properly appreciate the Redeemer. We must expose ourselves to the fire, the ax, the winnowing-fan, that we may learn what we really are and come, like Paul, to reckon our own righteousness as loss, if only we may win Christ and be found in Him. [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 3

1  John preaches: his office, life, and baptism
7  He reprimands the Pharisees,
13  and baptizes Jesus in Jordan

Greek Commentary for Matthew 3:8

Fruit worthy of repentance [Καρπον αχιον της μετανοιας]
John demands proof from these men of the new life before he administers baptism to them. “The fruit is not the change of heart, but the acts which result from it” (McNeile). It was a bold deed for John thus to challenge as unworthy the very ones who posed as lights and leaders of the Jewish people. “Any one can do (ποιησατε ςιδε — poiēsate class="translit"> vide Genesis 1:11) acts externally good but only a good man can grow a crop of right acts and habits” (Bruce). [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 3:8

Matthew 21:29 Repented [μεταμεληθεὶς]
This is a different word from that in Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; μετανοεῖτε , Repent ye. Though it is fairly claimed that the word here implies all that is implied in the other word, the New Testament writers evidently recognize a distinction, since the noun which corresponds to the verb in this passage ( μεταμέλεια ) is not used at all in the New Testament, and the verb itself only five times; and, in every case except the two in this passage (see Matthew 21:32), with a meaning quite foreign to repentance in the ordinary gospel sense. Thus it is used of Judas, when he brought back the thirty pieces (Matthew 27:3); of Paul's not regretting his letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 7:8); and of God (Hebrews 7:21). On the other hand, μετανοέω , repent, used by John and Jesus in their summons to repentance (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17), occurs thirty-four times, and the noun μετάνοια , repentance (Matthew 3:8, Matthew 3:11), twenty-four times, and in every case with reference to that change of heart and life wrought by the Spirit of God, to which remission of sins and salvation are promised. It is not impossible, therefore, that the word in this passage may have been intended to carry a different shade of meaning, now lost to us. Μεταμέλομαι , as its etymology indicates ( μετά , after, and μέλω , to be an object of care), implies an after-care, as contrasted with the change of mind denoted by μετάνοια . Not sorrow for moral obliquity and sin against God, but annoyance at the consequences of an act or course of acts, and chagrin at not having known better. “It may be simply what our fathers were wont to call hadiwist (had-I-wist, or known better, I should have acted otherwise)” (Trench). Μεταμέλεια refers chiefly to single acts; μετάνοια denotes the repentance which affects the whole life. Hence the latter is often found in the imperative: Repent ye (Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19); the former never. Paul's recognition of the distinction (2 Corinthians 7:10) is noteworthy. “Godly sorrow worketh repentance ( μετάνοιαν ) unto salvation,” a salvation or repentance “which bringeth no regret on thinking of it afterwards” ( ἀμεταμέλητον )There is no occasion for one ever to think better of either his repentance or the salvation in which it issued. [source]
Matthew 21:29 I will not [ου τελω]
So many old manuscripts, though the Vatican manuscript (B) has the order of the two sons reversed. Logically the “I, sir” But the one who actually did the will of the father is the one who repented and went This word really means “repent,” to be sorry afterwards, and must be sharply distinguished from the word μετανοια — metanoeō used 34 times in the N.T. as in Matthew 3:2 and μεταμελομαι — metanoia used 24 times as in Matthew 3:8. The verb μετανοιαν — metamelomai occurs in the N.T. only five times (Matthew 21:29, Matthew 21:32; Matthew 27:3; 2 Corinthians 7:8; Hebrews 7:21 from Psalm 109:4). Paul distinguishes sharply between mere sorrow and the act “repentance” which he calls μετανοιαν — metanoian (2 Corinthians 7:9). In the case of Judas (Matthew 27:3) it was mere remorse. Here the boy got sorry for his stubborn refusal to obey his father and went and obeyed. Godly sorrow leads to repentance (metanoian), but mere sorrow is not repentance. [source]
John 1:27 Coming after me [οπισω μου ερχομενος]
No article Literally, “of whom I am not worthy that I unloose the latchet (see Mark 1:7 for ιμας — himas) of his sandal (see Matthew 3:11 for υποδημα — hupodēma bound under the foot).” Only use of αχιος — axios with ινα — hina in John, though used by Paul in this saying of the Baptist (Acts 13:25), ικανος ινα — hikanos hina in Matthew 3:8, but ικανος λυσαι — hikanos lusai (aorist active infinitive instead of λυσω — lusō aorist active subjunctive) in Mark 1:7 (Luke 3:16) and βαστασαι — bastasai in Matthew 3:11. [source]
Acts 26:20 Throughout all the country of Judea [πασαν τε την χωραν της Ιουδαιας]
The accusative here in the midst of the datives Doing works worthy of repentance (αυτους — axia tēs metanoias erga prassontas). Accusative case of present active participle μετανοειν — prassontas because of the implied επιστρεπειν — autous with the present infinitive πρασσουσιν — metanoein (repent) and ετνεσιν — epistrephein (turn), though the dative prassousin could have been used to agree with ethnesin (Gentiles). Cf. Matthew 3:8 for similar language used of the Baptist. Paul, the greatest of theologians, was an interesting practical preacher. [source]
Acts 26:20 Doing works worthy of repentance [αυτους]
Accusative case of present active participle μετανοειν — prassontas because of the implied επιστρεπειν — autous with the present infinitive πρασσουσιν — metanoein (repent) and ετνεσιν — epistrephein (turn), though the dative prassousin could have been used to agree with ethnesin (Gentiles). Cf. Matthew 3:8 for similar language used of the Baptist. Paul, the greatest of theologians, was an interesting practical preacher. [source]
Romans 2:3 That thou shalt escape [συ εκπευχηι]
Emphasis on συ — su “thou conceited Jew expecting to escape God‘s κριμα — krima because thou art a Jew.” Cf. Matthew 3:8. Paul justifies the bitter words of the Baptist to the Pharisees and Sadducees. The future middle of the old verb εκπευγω — ekpheugō (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:3). The Jew posed as immune to the ordinary laws of ethics because a Jew. Alas, some Christians affect the same immunity. [source]
Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the Spirit [ὁ καρπὸς τοῦ πνεύματος]
The phrase N.T.oFruit, metaphorical, frequent in N.T., as Matthew 3:8; Matthew 7:16; John 4:36; John 15:8; Romans 1:13; Romans 6:21, etc. We find fruit of light (Ephesians 5:9); of righteousness (Philemon 1:11); of labor (Philemon 1:22); of the lips (Hebrews 13:15). Almost always of a good result. [source]
Hebrews 12:11 It yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness [καρπὸν εἰρηνικὸν ἀποδίδωσιν δικαιοσύνης]
Perhaps with a suggestion of recompense for the long-suffering and waiting, since ἀποδιδόναι often signifies “to give back.” The phrase ἀποδιδόναι καρπὸν only here and Revelation 22:2. Καρπὸν fruitwith διδόναι togive, Matthew 13:8; Mark 4:8: with ποιεῖν tomake or produce, often in Synoptic Gospels, as Matthew 3:8, Matthew 3:10; Matthew 7:17; Luke 3:8; Luke 6:43, etc.: with φέρειν tobear, always and only in John, John 12:24; John 15:2, John 15:4, John 15:5, John 15:8, John 15:16: with βλαστάνειν tobring forth, James 5:18. Ἑιρηνικός peaceablein N.T. Only here and James 3:17, as an epithet of wisdom. Quite often in lxx of men, the heart, especially of words and sacrifices. The phrase καρπός εἰρηνικός peaceablefruit (omit the ), N.T.oolxx. The phrase fruit of righteousness, Philemon 1:11; James 3:18, and lxx, Proverbs 3:9; Proverbs 11:30; Proverbs 13:2; Amos 6:13: comp. Psalm 1:3; Psalm 57:11. The genitive of righteousness is explicative or appositional; fruit which consists in righteousness or is righteousness. [source]

What do the individual words in Matthew 3:8 mean?

Produce therefore fruit worthy - of repentance
ποιήσατε οὖν καρπὸν ἄξιον τῆς μετανοίας

ποιήσατε  Produce 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Imperative Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: ποιέω  
Sense: to make.
καρπὸν  fruit 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: καρπός  
Sense: fruit.
ἄξιον  worthy 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: ἄξιος  
Sense: weighing, having weight, having the weight of another thing of like value, worth as much.
τῆς  - 
Parse: Article, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
μετανοίας  of  repentance 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: μετάνοια  
Sense: a change of mind, as it appears to one who repents, of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done.