“And He began telling this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-keeper, “Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?” And he answered and said to him, “Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down”‘” (Luke 13:6-9).

This parable can easily be used to promote a works-based salvation. After all, fruit is typically associated with good works. Thus, a fruitless fig tree is assumed to be like the person without good works. If that person continues living without good works, he will be destroyed.

This fruit is so critical to a right relationship with God

But like every parable, it must be interpreted within its literary context. And only when we interpret this parable with reference to the first five verses which precede it can we identify the fruit to which Yeshua refers. And this fruit is so critical to a right relationship with God that the lack of it in a person who claims to know Yeshua means this person has never been saved. The fruit in this parable is the fruit of repentance! For only a person who knows he is desperately lost in his sin can ever be found and forgiven by God through faith in his Son.

“Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish'” (Luke 13:1-5).