And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
All Commentaries on Matthew 3:10 Go To Matthew 3
John Chrysostom
AD 407
But be not afraid; or rather, be afraid, but despair not. For you have yet a hope of change; the sentence is not quite absolute, neither did the axe come to cut (else what hindered it from cutting, close as it was to the root?); but on purpose by this fear to make you a better man, and to prepare you to bring forth fruit. For this cause he added, Therefore every tree, which brings not forth good fruit, is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Matthew 3:10 Now by the word every, he rejects again the privilege which they had from their noble descent; Why, if you be Abraham's own descendant, says he, if you have thousands of patriarchs to enumerate, you will but undergo a double punishment, abiding unfruitful.
By these words he alarmed even publicans, the soldiers' mind was startled by him, not casting them into despair, yet ridding them of all security. For along with the terror, there is also much encouragement in what he says; since by the expression, which brings not forth good fruit, he signified that what bears fruit is delivered from all vengeance.
5. And how, says one, shall we be able to bring forth fruit, when the edge is being applied, and the time so strait, and the appointed season cut short. You will be able, says he, for this fruit is not of the same kind as that of common trees, waiting a long time, and in bondage to the necessities of seasons, and requiring much other management; but it is enough to be willing, and the tree at once has put forth its fruit. For not the nature of the root only, but also the skill of the husbandman contributes the most to that kind of fruit-bearing.
For (let me add) on account of this—lest they should say, You are alarming and pressing, and constraining us, applying an axe, and threatening us with being cut down, yet requiring produce in time of punishment,— he has added, to signify the ease of bearing that fruit, I indeed baptize you with water, but He that comes after me is mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: implying hereby that consideration only is needed and faith, not labors and toils; and as it is easy to be baptized, so is it easy to be converted, and to become better men. So having stirred their mind by the fear of God's judgment, and the expectation of His punishment, and by the mention of the axe, and by the loss of their ancestors, and by the bringing in of those other children, and by the double vengeance of cutting off and burning, and having by all means softened their hardness, and brought them to desire deliverance from so great evils; then he brings in what he has to say touching Christ; and not simply, but with a declaration of His great superiority. Then in setting forth the difference between himself and Him, lest he should seem to say this out of favor, he establishes the fact by comparison of the gifts bestowed by each of them. For he did not at once say, I am not worthy to unloose the latchet of His shoe; but when he had first set forth the little value of his own baptism, and had shown that it has nothing more than to lead them to repentance (for he did not say with water of remission, but of repentance), he sets forth Christ's also, which is full of the unspeakable gift. Thus he seems to say, Lest, on being told that He comes after me, you should despise Him as having come later; learn the virtue of His gift, and you will clearly know that I uttered nothing worthy nor great, when I said, I am not worthy to unloose the latchet of His shoe. So too when you are told, He is mightier than I, do not think I said this in the way of making a comparison. For I am not worthy to be ranked so much as among His servants, no, not even the lowest of His servants, nor to receive the least honored portion of His ministry. Therefore He did not merely say, His shoes, but not even the latchet, which kind of office was counted the last of all. Then to hinder your attributing what he had said to humility, he adds also the proof from the facts: For He shall baptize you, says he, with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
