---
title: Matthew 7:15
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-7-15/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-7-15.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 7:15
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 7:15

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

## JW Usage

The Watchtower regularly invokes Matthew 7:15-20 ("by their fruits you will recognise them") to commend its own organisational record: political neutrality, no participation in wars, strong family values, no paid clergy. These "fruits" are offered as evidence that Jehovah's Witnesses are God's true people and that the organisation has Jesus' stamp of approval. The verse is also used to cast doubt on other religious groups whose fruit is judged deficient.

## Protestant Usage

Matthew 7:16-20 is a whole-harvest test, not a best-three-branches test. Verses 16 and 20 bookend the passage with the same phrase — "by their fruits you will recognise them" (inclusio). Jesus says "every good tree bears good fruit" — the whole tree, the whole harvest. The Watchtower's selective appeal to favourable outcomes ignores the harvest's full scope: the Australian Royal Commission documented 1,006 alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse within the organisation with zero cases reported to civil authorities. The "fruit test" in 1919 is equally revealing — at the time the Watchtower claims Jesus inspected and approved the organisation, the Bible Students were celebrating Christmas, wearing cross-and-crown emblems, practising pyramidology, teaching Jesus' presence began in 1874, and distributing The Finished Mystery. The moment a Witness invokes "by their fruits," they have invoked a standard that applies to everything the organisation produces — including the items not printed in the brochure.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The 1919 Inspection](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/1919-unfalsifiability.md) — An Unfalsifiable Claim [Authority]
- [The Fruit Test Must Examine the Whole Harvest](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/fruit-test-whole-harvest.md) — Matthew 7:16-20 — 'By their fruits you will recognise them' [Epistemology]
- [The 34% Retention Rate — Pew's Quiet Verdict on JW Community Health](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jw-retention-rate-37-pew.md) — By their fruits you shall know them (Matthew 7:16) [Practice]
- [Three Dates, One Test](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/prophetic-failure-meta-pattern.md) — Deuteronomy 18:22 Applied to 1914, 1925, 1975 [Epistemology]
- [Paul Restored Mark — What Did Russell Restore?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/founder-character-contrast.md) — Apostolic reconciliation vs Bethel schism — the fruit test applied to founders [Authority]