Matthew 3:8 - Fruit of Repentance.

Mat.3:8; Fruit of Repentance.

Mat 3:8 (KJV)  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for
repentance:

Mat 3:8 (EAB)  Bring forth fruit that is consistent with
repentance - let your lives prove your change of heart.

John the Baptist's mission was to call Israel to repent and
be changed at the level of the heart and character [New
Bible Companion]

The fruit borne reveals the inner character. The test of
conversion is a transformation in the life. [SDA Commentary]

You need to be converted before you are baptized.  When one
is converted or born again there is a change in their life
that shows they are ready for baptism. [Gibbs]

Repentance is seated in the heart. There it is as a root;
but in vain do we pretend to have it there, if we do not
bring forth the fruits of it. (Matthew Henry's Commentary)

"Repentance is the sole, but inexorable, condition of God's
forgiveness and the restoration of his favour,... Repentance
is a turning away from evil and a turning towards God. ...
the essence of repentance lay in such a thorough change of
mind that it issues in a change of life ... Again and again
the Bible speaks of this turning away from sin, and this
turning towards God. .. It is a turn from evil to God, with
a corresponding change in action. [Barclay Commentary]

Here is a word of terror to the careless and secure. Our
corrupt hearts cannot be made to produce good fruit, unless
the regenerating Spirit of Christ graft the good word of God
upon them. And every tree, however high in gifts and
honours, however green in outward professions and
performances, if it bring not forth good fruit, the fruits
meet for repentance, is hewn down and cast into the fire of
God's wrath, the fittest place for barren trees: what else
are they good for? If not fit for fruit, they are fit for
fuel. John shows the design and intention of Christ's
appearing, which they were now speedily to expect. No
outward forms can make us clean. No ordinances, by
whomsoever administered, or after whatever mode, can supply
the want of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire. The
purifying and cleansing power of the Holy Spirit alone can
produce that purity of heart, and those holy affections,
which accompany salvation. It is Christ who baptizes with
the Holy Ghost. This he did in the extraordinary gifts of
the Spirit sent upon the apostles, Acts 2:4. This he does in
the graces and comforts of the Spirit, given to those that
ask him. (Matthew Henry's Commentary)

"If a man has an unclean thing in his hands, he may wash
them in all the seas of the world, and he will never be
clean; but if he throws the unclean thing away, a little
water will suffice." [Barclay Commentary]

The true penitent is he who has the opportunity to do the
same sin again, in the same circumstances, and who does not
do it." [Barclay Commentary]

God looks beyond our words and religious activities to see
if our conduct backs up what we say, and he judges our words
by the actions that accompany them. Do your actions match
your words? Just as a fruit tree is expected to bear fruit,
God's people should produce a crop of good deeds. God has no
use for people who call themselves Christians but do nothing
about it. Like many people in John's day who were God's
people in name only, we are of no value if we are Christians
in name only. If others can't see our faith in the way we
treat them, we may not be God's people at all. [Life
Application SB]