Friday, 11 September 2026

JC

 Yes, a very similar teaching appears in Luke 6:43–45:

“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit…” (Luke 6:43–44)

Jesus continues by connecting the metaphor to a person’s heart and speech:

“For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45)

The more commonly quoted version, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit,” is found in Matthew 7:17–20, where Jesus is warning about false prophets.

So if you’re thinking specifically of “rotten tree, rotten fruit,” both Matthew and Luke contain the same basic image, but Luke emphasizes character flowing from the heart, while Matthew emphasizes discerning true and false teachers by their fruits.


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