Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing 1: Introduction
“Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
Extended Exploration of Matthew 7:15-23
This is the first of a planned series on Matthew 7:15-23, concerning wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Jesus’ warning in these verses touches on many present concerns in the church: abuse and safeguarding; truth and falsehood; identity and character. As such, I want to explore it in some detail to better understand what Jesus is saying. And I’d love it if you joined me in my explorations over the next few weeks.
In this first post in the series I will focus on the big picture, the main ideas and the basic contours of the passage. I’ll dig into details in later posts. Along the way, I’d love your engagement, thoughts, questions etc.
Series Outline
Here’s a brief outline of the series, with this post highlighted:
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing : Introduction
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: Their Identity
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: Their Activity
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: Their Paternity
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: Their Discovery Part 1
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: Their Discovery Part 2
Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: Their Destiny
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An Overview of Matthew 7:15-23
In Matthew 7:15, Jesus warns his disciples against false prophets. Warnings and denunciations of false prophets appear elsewhere in the Bible, but nowhere else as memorably as this: they “come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”
Their outward appearance is a scam, designed to hide their true identity, what they are “inwardly.”
In vv. 16-20, Jesus gives a test to help his disciples discern who the false prophets are: “You will know them by their fruit.” (v. 16a)
The basic conviction underlying the test comes in v. 17: healthy trees bear good fruit, diseased trees bad fruit. A wolf in sheep’s clothing is like the diseased tree. Jesus’ point is that despite their fancy dress getup, the wicked interior (“inwardly ravenous wolves”) can be spotted by the bad fruit of their lives.
The verses around v. 17 emphatically support that point by rhetorical questions (v. 16), emphatic denial of the possibility of good trees producing bad fruit and vice versa (v. 18), a warning about what happens to bad trees (v. 19), and a reiteration of the test (v. 20).
By means of the fruit test—and this is key to how vv. 21-23 build on vv. 15-20—Jesus gives his disciples a general principle that holds for other false claimants to spiritual authority. They are false prophets because they are false professors: if you claim to be the Lord’s prophet, but are a fake Christian (producing bad fruit rather than good fruit—think unrighteousness, hatred, deceit etc.), then you are, ipso facto, a false prophet.
And so, notice how Jesus widens his scope in 7:21-23, as he looks ahead to the day of judgment. On that day there will be many claimants to spiritual authority and power, both prophets and others (vv. 21-22), who will hear the chilling words (note Jesus takes Psalm 6:8 on his lips, a fascinating choice that I want to reflect on in a later post), “I never knew you, depart from me you workers of lawlessness.”
The false prophets who “come to you” (v.15) will one day hear the words “depart from me” (v. 23). Their approach and departure frames the passage. The central drama within concerns how they are to be known (as in recognised) by the disciples as those unknown by the Lord (as in not belonging to his flock).
The Two Contrasts in Matthew 7:15-23
Seen in wider context, Matthew 7:15-23 is the filling in the middle of an applicatory sandwich that follows the Sermon on the Mount’s (“Sermon” for short) main course. The main course (5:21-7:12) is an extended exposition of the way of life that fulfils the law and the prophets; namely the way of righteousness and love.
Jesus applies his Sermon in 7:13-29 with exhortation and warning, pushing his listeners to embrace his teaching with three contrasts, each representing the same fundamental choice: (1) between a narrow and a wide gate/path (7:13-14); (2) between good and bad trees (7:15-23); and (3) between building on rock and building on sand (7:24-29).
What’s different, however, about the tree metaphor (compared to the two paths and two builders) is that Jesus does not apply it directly to his listeners. As we’ve seen, it applies to false prophets.
The tree metaphor builds on a prior implied contrast between true and false prophets. By not expressing the contrast, but simply warning us against false prophets, Jesus lays special emphasis on them. They take centre stage in the Sermon’s application.
Why?
Presumably because we need to know that the greatest threat to the life and love of the kingdom—as proclaimed by Jesus in the Sermon—comes in the guise of apparently harmless allies, not obviously dangerous foes. Just as the devil offered Jesus a kingdom without having to walk the costly path of righteousness and love (Matt 4:1-11), so he continually seeks to dupe Jesus’ disciples.
False prophets take centre stage in the Sermon’s application because wherever the kingdom is being established in people’s hearts, it is under threat from Satan’s wolves masquerading as harmless sheep.
The Categorical Distinction
“Do people gather grapes from thorn bushes?”
The tree metaphor is the bridge that links the false prophets of 7:15 with the false professors of 7:21-23. It’s the categorical distinction underlying both Jesus’ present warning and his future judgment. If we don’t get it then Jesus’ warning falls on deaf ears.
Jesus goes out of his way in vv. 16-20 to underline that good trees and bad trees are both categorically and recognisably different. You cannot have a good tree produce evil fruit, or a bad tree good fruit. If there is bad fruit it did not come from a good tree. And if there is good fruit it did not come from a bad tree.
“Or do people gather figs from thistles?”
We will look closely at the nature of the fruit in a later post. For now notice that the clue is in how Jesus labels one tree’s fruit as “good” and the other as “bad”. Those are moral categories, related to the Sermon’s strongly ethical thrust.
In the background is the righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees (5:20), and the goodness and love that fulfils the law and the prophets (7:12). Bad fruit is the antithesis of those kingdom attributes, namely unrighteousness, deceit, malice, and hatred.
Jesus’ confidence that the false prophets can be identified is built on this categorical distinction. As I hope we will see in a future post, the blurring of this categorical distinction (worth thinking of how this is done) opens the door of the sheep pen to the wolves, and offers up the sheep to their enemy.
It’s All About Chracter
The wolf-in-sheep’s clothing metaphor and the tree-and-its-fruit metaphor share something in common. They both play on the relationship between a person’s invisible inner nature and their visible exterior character.
“Character” is a good word here, because in English we speak both of a character that an actor might play, and someone’s character as their distinctive moral qualities. There’s a character (role) that doesn’t reflect a person’s true identity, and a (moral) character that does.
The same thing is going on here in Matthew 7:15-23.
On the one hand, there is a terrible disconnect between the (inner) identity of the wolf and their (outward) character performance as a sheep. The sheep-like exterior conceals their true identity (the whole point of the disguise!).
On the other hand, there is an organic connection between their essential identity as a bad tree and the character of the fruit they produce. The putrid fruit on the tree’s exterior reveals the true nature of the tree.
How do you spot a wolf on the basis of their character? How do you know your assessment is based on their character, rather than on their, um … character?
For the fruit test to work, good fruit has to be something obviously different to fleeciness.
Therefore, just as blurring the distinction between the two types of tree prevents us from identifying prophets who are wolves, so treating fleeciness as a form of fruitfulness will have the same effect.
Jesus clearly expects us as his disciples—not least on the basis of his teaching in the Sermon and its outworking in our lives—to be morally well calibrated; to have our “powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” (Hebrews 5:14)
In this first post in the series I’ve presented an overview of the passage in its context, and drawn out some of the key themes.
In the next installment, we’ll begin to look more closely at the identity of the wolves in sheep’s clothing who prey on Jesus’ sheep.
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