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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Concerning Christian Liberty by Martin Luther: proceed from a good person. As Christ says, "A good tree cannot
bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth
good fruit" (Matt. vii. 18). Now it is clear that the fruit does
not bear the tree, nor does the tree grow on the fruit; but, on
the contrary, the trees bear the fruit, and the fruit grows on
the trees.
As then trees must exist before their fruit, and as the fruit
does not make the tree either good or bad, but on the contrary, a
tree of either kind produces fruit of the same kind, so must
first the person of the man be good or bad before he can do
either a good or a bad work; and his works do not make him bad or
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