Bunyan The Barren Fig Tree

The Doom and Downfall of the Fruitless Professor

by John Bunyan

Summary of Bunyan The Barren Fig Tree

This is a single chapter sermon by Bunyan (Anglican). The matter of his sermon is the divine condemn on professors of the faith that have no fruit. He uses Christ’s parable of cursing the fig tree, and concludes that such professors without fruit in their life are under God’s condemnation.

Evaluation by David Cox

Although this Anglican work is short, I would highly recommend this work for everyone to read. The question that Bunyan presents (how can a Christian really be saved if he has no spiritual fruit or evidence to back that up?) is a tremendously important one. This, for example, is exactly why the Roman Catholic church invented “confirmation”, because so many of “its people” showed no moral interest or spiritual change. Even though baptizing babies is supposed to make the person a Christian, it obviously doesn’t. Confirmation (catechism beforehand) is the Catholic’s answer of endoctrinating morality into their people.

On the Anglican side of things, this was a very important worrisome question because again, the normal course of the majority of its people resulted in low morals among its people, and therefore, same problem, they are obviously not saved.

The Methodist (John Wesley) movement came out of the Anglicans because seeing this same issue, they simply observed (correctly) that fruitless “Christians” are questionable as to their salvation. (Personally I would argue that they were never saved and are not saved. This does not validate a works salvation, i.e. salvation because we have good works, but a salvation that naturally should produce good works.) John Wesley’s idea of a second work of grace, came in here, and instead of catechism and confirmation (Catholic and Anglican solutions), he proposed that these immoral people needed a second work of Grace, and the Methodist denomination was born.

From there the Nazarene movement also was born, trying to live like Jesus the Nazarene. The entire holiness movement is a force working against this fruitlessness in supposed Christians’ lives. The older Pentecostal movement (Foursquare Gospel) was likewise very concerned about finding results of salvation in their people, and thus when someone among them hit upon speaking in tongues as a sign of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, the modern Pentecostal movement was born. But the issue upon their hearts was this same immorality and lack of spiritual fruit in supposed believers’ lives.

I highly recommend this work.

Bunyan The Barren Fig Tree