CHAPTER VI. Of what kind those fruits of righteousness are
should faint and die, they called in another to help him. The fruit of old trees is most concocted and pleasantest.
CHAPTER VI
Of what kind those fruits of righteousness are, with which our obedience should abound; what is requisite to make them true and genuine.
Having thus shewed what it is to be filled with the fruits of righteousness, I come now to explain of what sort or kind these fruits are.
1. The man who performs them must be a righteous man; he must have an inward frame of righteousness in his heart, whence these grow; 'Make the tree good' (saith Christ, Mat. 7:17, 18, &c.), 'and the fruit will be good; for can an evil tree bring forth good fruit? Can you gather figs of thorns?' So that, unless the heart be made holy and righteous, it cannot bring forth the fruits of righteousness; and they are therefore said to be fruits of righteousness, because they spring from a righteous frame of heart, a workmanship created unto good works, Eph. 2:10. And that which is said in Isa. 37:31, of the kingdom of Judah, expressing its continuance, 'it shall take root downward, and bear fruit upward,' that I say of the fruits of righteousness, that as there should be fruits growing upward, so there shall be a root growing downward, which is the root of those fruits. And as a man doth grow and hold forth profession outwardly, so he should grow inwardly holy and righteous, having the image of God, which is created in holiness and righteousness, renewed in his heart; and works proceeding from thence are righteous works.
2. They are called righteous fruits, which are agreeable to the law of God, and which have the word of God for the rule. The commandments of God (Deut. 12:9*) are called our righteousness (so it is in the original), and answerably every work which a man hath a rule and a warrant for, which a man doth in obedience to a law and a word, it is a fruit of righteousness, The apostle John doth answerably exhort ns to such holy obedience, 1 John 3:3–10. That good old apostle, who writes about communion with God, and knew best what it was, and what was the fruit of such communion, doth not take men off from the righteous law of God as the rule of obedience; though there were those that went about, even in his time, to take men off from attending to the law as a perfect rule, and that because God dwelt in them, and they had communion with him. No, saith he; ver.
7, 'Let no man deceive you: he that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.' And ver. 4, 'Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law.'
Answerably therefore, the righteousness which he intended is a conformity to that law. And, saith he, besides the motive that you have from Christ (for mark it, so the context clearly runs, 'he was manifested to take away our sin,' and 'he that hath this hope in him,' that hath any assurance to be saved, and hath any communion with God, 'he purifieth himself'), but besides that (saith he), 'whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law.' The righteousness therefore of a holy man that is truly righteous, is that which is a conformity to the law; and the law as a rule of righteousness standeth to that man, and ought to stand, and he ought to act according to that law, and then it is a fruit of righteousness.
3. These fruits must be such as are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. The Scripture insisteth much upon the kind of our actions, as well as upon the actions themselves. It is not enough for them to be conformed unto the law outwardly, yea (if it might be),
inwardly too: 2 Tim. 2:5, 'If a man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully.' The meaning is this, it is an allusion to those games usual amongst the Greeks, which were for crowns, where there were certain rules set for the manner of doing them; and if a man did not keep to the manner as well as to the matter or thing to be done, he had not the laurel given him. It is not therefore striving only, but doing of it lawfully. The same apostle discourseth to the same purpose, Rom. 7:4: 'We are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even unto him that is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit onto God;' and saith he, ver. 6, 'Ye are delivered from the law, that we should serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.' It is not the having a conformity to that old letter of Moses's law, which will make a fruit of righteousness, but it is (saith he) serving in the newness of the spirit, that is, of the gospel; for clearly there spirit is opposed to letter, and to perform such obedience and bring forth such fruits of righteousness as the gospel doth suggest and require, this, saith he, is to bring forth fruit according to the newness of the spirit; and no other fruit is accepted of God. And therefore whereas before the law brought forth fruits of righteousness in us, we are now dead to the motions of it, though it is a rule still; yet for begetting fruits of righteousness upon us, so we are dead to it, and we are married on purpose unto Jesus Christ, that by him we might have fruit; that is, children unto God, for he useth a marriage phrase here. Before, when we were in the flesh, 'the motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death; but now, being married unto Jesus
Christ, we serve in the newness of the spirit, and by him bring forth fruit unto God.' And he calls it fruit, because good works are children begotten upon the heart by Jesus Christ; for fruit, you know, is not only taken for the fruit of a tree, but there is the fruit of the womb and the fruit of the loins. So that the fruit which is accepted of God
must be such as is by Jesus Christ. And agreeably to what hath been said, the apostle speaks (2 Tim. 3:12) of our 'living godly in Christ
Jesus.' And in the same chapter he speaks of a mere form of godliness as insignificant. Godliness therefore in Christ Jesus is that alone which is the distinguishing character from the form of godliness, which is a conformity to the old letter.
Now then, for the kind of the fruits of righteousness, he says two things:
1. They must be by Jesus Christ.
2. They must be performed by the heart, so as to be directed to the glory and praise of God.
1. They must be by Jesus Christ. Now fruits are by Jesus Christ in all these respects.
(1.) Because they are from a workmanship created in Christ Jesus.
And certainly the image of holiness, which is created in Christ Jesus, is of an higher strain than that image of holiness, which the law could stamp upon the heart of a man. It is of another kind, for it is suited and fitted to gospel-motives and considerations, unto which holiness in Adam was not suited, Eph. 2:10.
(2.) Because they are such fruits as do arise from the Spirit of Jesus Christ, received from him, and dwelling in the heart. 'Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance,' &c., all those excellent virtues are called, in Gal. 5:22, the fruit of the Spirit; and 'against such' (saith the apostle) 'there is no law,' there needeth no threatening of condemnation to such men as are led by the Spirit, as you have it, ver. 18, 'If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.' There was temperance, and meekness, and gentleness, and
long-suffering in divers of the heathen, but they were not fruits of the Spirit of Christ, and therefore they were not fruits of righteousness by Jesus Christ, and from his Spirit dwelling in their hearts; neither were those men led into them by the Holy Ghost, and acted by the Holy Ghost as dwelling in them, and united to them, and becoming one spirit with them.
(3.) Fruits of righteousness are by Jesus Christ, because they are the fruits that follow upon a man's apprehending the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ for his righteousness. And indeed so some do interpret this place; say they, they are fruits of righteousness, that is, of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us by faith; they being both joined here in the text, of righteousness, and that by Jesus Christ. It is evident and clear by the Scripture, that the great spring of holiness and obedience is faith in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus; I will give you one scripture for it, it is in Tit. 3:8, where the apostle having spoken in the former part of the chapter, how that we are saved not by works, and that we are justified freely by grace, and made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, he saith, 'These things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God may be careful to maintain good works.' so that to believe upon Jesus Christ for righteousness, and to be effectually convinced that all our own works will stand us in no stead, and to go to Christ for his righteousness, is the greatest spring of good works, and the best stock to maintain them.
(4.) Fruits of righteousness are by Christ, because they are so by motives drawn from Christ. When a man feels the 'virtue of his resurrection' (as Paul saith, Philip. 3:10), that is, when he considereth that Jesus Christ is risen as a common person, and that he arose for him as he died for him, or he believeth on him that his death and the fruit of it may be his; when a man feels a virtue coming
to his soul from the consideration hereof, which quickeneth him to holiness and obedience, to die unto sin and to live to righteousness; when the love of Christ thus constrains, when these are the motives of the fruits of righteousness, these fruits are likewise by Jesus
Christ. When 'the grace of Christ teacheth us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly' to a man's self, and 'righteously' to others, 'and godly' in this present world, in all the duties that concern God, a man's self, and others, as knowing that Christ hath 'redeemed us to be a peculiar people, zealous of good works;' when the redemption of Christ makes a man zealous of good works; when these are the motives (which are the gospel motives) whereby a man is acted, and the peace of God ruleth in his heart, and the love of God ruleth in his spirit, and the love of Christ constraineth him, then his holy actions are fruits of righteousness by Jesus Christ.
(5.) Fruits of righteousness are by Christ, because they flow from our union with the person of the Lord Jesus; and therefore the apostle speaks of our 'growing up Into Christ in all, things' (Eph. 4:15), and of our 'increasing with the increase of God,' Col. 2:19. The way to grow up in all things is to grow up in him, into nearer union and communion with him and his person, and fellowship with him; and when from such a union and communion with Jesus Christ, and growing up herein, a man grows more holy—'Abide in me (saith
Christ, John 15:4, 5), and I in you, that you may bring forth much fruit'—when, I say, from this union there flow works of righteousness, these are fruits of righteousness by Jesus Christ.
(6.) They are fruits of righteousness by Jesus Christ, when the example of Christ is before me to move me to the like righteousness.
'He that professeth he abideth in him' (saith the apostle, 1 John 2:6), 'ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.'
(7.) Then my actions are fruits of righteousness, whenas I look for all my acceptation of all my fruits of righteousness in Jesus Christ, or when I expect that they should all be accepted of God in and through Jesus Christ, and not as they come from me. Thus our services are expressed (1 Pet. 2:5) to be 'sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ,' as they are found in him, and as God relisheth Christ in them. I say, when the heart is thus carried out to bring forth fruits of righteousness, though the law be the rule that guideth me for the matter, what fruits of righteousness to bring forth; yet I say, when they are thus brought forth (for the kind* of them) by Jesus Christ, then they are accepted by God, for God accepted nothing out of the Lord Jesus.
Thus I have shewed you that those actions are the fruits of righteousness, which are done in and by Christ Jesus. But,
2. Then our actions are the fruits of righteousness, when they are directed by the heart to the glory and praise of God. This the apostle plainly intimates, 1 Pet. 4:11, where, speaking only of giving alms
(which is one fruit of righteousness), he saith, 'If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ.' He must do it to that end, that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ; for Christ himself is ordained to the glory of God, and all the fruits of righteousness are to be presented to God in and through Jesus Christ, and God is to be glorified through Jesus Christ. He speaks it, you see, of an action, a deed of charity; that in all things (saith he) God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. But it may be asked, why he doth not only say,
'to the glory of God,' but 'to the glory and praise of God?' Is there any difference between these two? To resolve the question, we must consider that those things are done to the glory of God (as you will have it in a way of distinction from the praise of God), whenas a man,
personally between God and himself, endeavours to glorify him; and those things are done to the praise of God, which are done by a man before others. That is properly praise, which is the shine of glory, for praise is the manifestation of glory; therefore that which is done in the heart, or personally between God and a man's self, that is properly to his glory; what cometh forth in the outward conversation of a man before others, that is properly to the praise of God. But it is usual in the Scripture to double things thus, to put the more emphasis upon them; to shew that all we do ought to be to the praise and glory of God, that our eye should be sure to be upon that; and therefore the apostle useth two phrases, not unto glory only, but unto praise also. To shew the abundance of a thing, it is doubled often in Scripture. I will give you but one instance, which is pertinent to the thing in hand; it is in 1 Pet. 1:7, where he speaks of the great glory which our faith shall have in that day, as here he speaks of the glory our works give to God in this day of ours; he saith, it shall be 'found unto praise, and honour, and glory.' He heaps up those words to shew the abundance of glory which God will give our faith at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And let me add this, that the greatest glorifying of God, that is done by the creature, none knows but God himself and the soul of a man. I say none knows, nor is privy to it; and therefore those works are the most acceptable works unto
God which are in a man's own spirit, whereof the outward works are but the fruit. Why? Because therein a man so glorifieth God, as no creature can see it, and that is glory indeed; and all secret glorifyings of God in a man's own heart, and also between God and a man's self, whereof God alone is the witness, they are those that God especially accepteth; 'he seeth in secret' (saith Christ, Mat. 6:4), 'and shall reward thee openly.' And indeed therein lies the glory of God, that he is so respected by his creature, that a man doth glorify him so, as God himself only is the witness of that glory; and that is properly by what is done between God and a man's self, and in a man's heart.