19 Bible Verses About Bearing Fruit

John 15:1-2

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

Reflection: Jesus speaks to his disciples between the supper of John 13 and the walk across the Kidron valley in John 18:1. The vinedresser does something to both kinds of branch: the fruitless one is taken away, and the fruitful one is pruned so that it bears more. The next verse tells the disciples that they are “already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.”

John 15:5

“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Reflection: Verse 4 has already set out the principle: “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you.” Here Jesus names the parts plainly, himself the vine and the disciples the branches, and states the result both ways: much fruit for the one who abides, nothing at all apart from him. Verse 6 describes the branch that does not abide, which withers and is burned.

John 15:8

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

Reflection: The Father’s glory is tied to the disciples’ fruitfulness, and bearing fruit is how they “prove to be” disciples. The verses that follow explain what abiding involves: abiding in Jesus’ love and keeping his commandments (15:9-10), and the commandment he names is “that you love one another as I have loved you” (15:12).

John 15:16

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…”

Reflection: Jesus tells the disciples that the choosing was his: “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” The purpose of the choosing is that they “go and bear fruit,” fruit that lasts, and the verse links that fruit to prayer answered by the Father. Verse 17 follows: “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”

Matthew 3:8

“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

Reflection: John the Baptist says this to the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to his baptism (Matthew 3:7). Being descended from Abraham, he tells them, is no substitute, and verse 10 adds that “every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Repentance, in John’s preaching, is expected to show itself in conduct.

Matthew 7:17-18

“So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.”

Reflection: In the Sermon on the Mount the saying is aimed at false prophets “in sheep’s clothing” (7:15). Verse 20 draws the conclusion: “Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” The warning goes on to people who say “Lord, Lord” and have prophesied in his name, but do not do the will of the Father (7:21-23).

Matthew 12:33

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.”

Reflection: Jesus speaks this to Pharisees who have said that he casts out demons by Beelzebul (12:24). Here the fruit is speech: “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (12:34), and verse 37 warns that “by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Luke 6:43-45 records the same image of the tree followed by the same line about the heart and the mouth.

Matthew 13:23

“As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Reflection: Jesus explains the parable of the sower to his disciples after telling it to the crowd from a boat (13:2, 13:18). The good soil is the one who “hears the word and understands it,” in contrast with the seed choked by “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches,” which “proves unfruitful” (13:22). The yield varies, a hundredfold, sixty or thirty, and all three count as fruit.

Galatians 5:22-23

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Reflection: Paul sets the fruit of the Spirit against “the works of the flesh” listed in verses 19-21, which run from sexual immorality to envy and drunkenness. The works are plural, while the fruit takes a singular verb: “the fruit of the Spirit is.” Verse 25 turns the list into instruction: “If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

Romans 7:4

“Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”

Reflection: Paul uses marriage law as his picture: a widow is free to marry again, and believers have “died to the law” so that they may belong to the risen Christ. The purpose of the new union is fruit for God. Verse 5 sets it against the old life, when passions aroused by the law were at work “to bear fruit for death.”

Colossians 1:10

“…so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

Reflection: The verse is part of Paul’s prayer for the church at Colossae, who had learned the gospel from Epaphras (1:7). Earlier in the prayer Paul says that the gospel itself is “bearing fruit and increasing” in the whole world (1:6), and here he asks for the same two things in the Colossians: fruit in every good work and growth in the knowledge of God.

Ephesians 5:9

“(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true)”

Reflection: The verse stands in brackets in the middle of Paul’s instruction to “walk as children of light” (5:8). The fruit of light is described by three words, good, right and true, and verse 11 sets it against “the unfruitful works of darkness,” which believers are told to expose.

Philippians 1:11

“…filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

Reflection: Paul closes his prayer for the church at Philippi by asking that they be “filled with the fruit of righteousness” on the day of Christ. The verse says the fruit comes “through Jesus Christ” and names whom it honours, “to the glory and praise of God.”

Hebrews 12:11

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

Reflection: The writer has quoted an exhortation on the Lord’s discipline of the son he loves (12:5-6) and compares it with the discipline of earthly fathers. The fruit comes later, to those “trained by it,” and the verse says plainly that discipline is painful while it lasts. Verse 10 names the purpose: “that we may share his holiness.”

James 3:18

“And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

Reflection: James is contrasting two kinds of wisdom. Jealousy and selfish ambition bring “disorder and every vile practice” (3:16), while the wisdom from above is “full of mercy and good fruits” (3:17). This verse ends the passage with a sowing image: the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace, by people who make peace.

Psalm 1:1-3

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.”

Reflection: The first psalm describes the righteous man by what he avoids and by what he delights in, the law of the Lord, meditated on day and night. The tree yields fruit “in its season,” and its leaf does not wither. The wicked, by contrast, are “like chaff that the wind drives away” (1:4).

Jeremiah 17:7-8

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Reflection: The Lord sets two men side by side. The one who trusts in man is “like a shrub in the desert” in a salt land (17:5-6); the one who trusts in the Lord is a tree by the stream. The tree still faces heat and drought, and what the verse promises is that it does not stop bearing fruit through them.

Hosea 14:8

“…I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.”

Reflection: Hosea’s book ends with a call for Israel to return to the Lord (14:1) and a promise of what follows: Israel will blossom like the lily and the vine (14:5-7). In this verse God speaks to Ephraim and sets himself against the idols the people had turned to. The fruit is credited to God: “from me comes your fruit.”

Proverbs 11:30

“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.”

Reflection: The proverb uses the image of the tree of life for what a righteous life produces. The verse before speaks of the fool serving “the wise of heart,” and verse 28 says the righteous “will flourish like a green leaf,” while the one who trusts in riches will fall.