Fruit of The Spirit

The fruit of the Spirit are found in Galatians 5:22-23. They are as follows:

Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

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The fruit of the Spirit is simply love, God’s Unconditional love. But it is manifested and revealed in eight beautiful subcategories.

 

The nine fruits of the Spirit have to do with our relationship with God and man. Our relationship with God, first, because we want to please him. Whatever we do, we do it as unto the Lord. These fruits also have to do with our relationship with others because we look first to please God, then we are free and empowered in our relationship with others. Meaning, even if they don’t acknowledge or appreciate what we do for them, it is all right because our motivation is first and foremost to please and bless the Father. However, the nine fruits are best expressed and understood in their interaction with others, with man. 

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The fruit of the Spirit are given by God to the born-again believer when God pours out his unconditional love in them and they reside in each believer because they are now indwelt by the Spirit of God.

Rom 5:5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

 

Therefore, each fruit is unconditional, internal, eternal, and relational!

 

Each fruit first works inside the believer for the believer and then flows from the believer to work outside the believer for the benefit of others, believers and nonbelievers.

 

Here is an overview of the definition of each fruit:

1. Love: An intense desire to please the Father by doing something good for the benefit of another.

2. Joy: internal gladness, despite the external madness, that flows from the believer for the benefit of others.

3. Peace: internal serenity, despite the external adversity, that flows from the believer for the benefit of others.

4. Patience: An intense desire to please the Father by showing mercy and forbearance to the imperfection of others.

5. Kindness: An intense desire to please the Father by initiating thoughtful acts for the pleasure and benefit of others.

6. Goodness: An intense desire to please the Father and benefit others by always living according to the moral standards of the Father. 

7. Faithfulness: an intense desire to please the Father and benefit others by always remaining consistent and reliable.

8. Gentleness: an intense desire to please the Father by conducting yourself with softness and humility in your conversation and dealings with others.

9. Self-control: an intense desire to please the Father and benefit yourself and others by taking control of your carnal thoughts and desires.

 

Now, let’s break the fruit down even further!

 

Love

Love is not just a feeling, but it has feelings. Love is an action. It is a compulsion that leads to action. Yes, we are love, are filled with love, and that characteristic compels us to give to and bless others. It compels us to speak and do good to others. That doing could involve ourselves as the gift, a gift of our time, talent. Or, it could involve us giving some material gift to others.

 

For example, love compels people to give flowers, jewelry, money and food to people.

 

Of course, the greatest biblical example of love compelling us to give is John 3:16 and how love compelled God to give his only son to save us from sin. Similarly, in John chapter 13, Christ says that there is no greater love than when a man lays down his life, sacrifices his life, for his friends. He was speaking about himself and how He was willing to give his life as a living sacrifice for our sins. This was the highest spiritual gift ever given to us.

 

The Bible says that God is love, and that Jesus and God the Father are one so Jesus also is love.

 

However, when it comes to man, man has to be reborn or born of the Spirit, in order to possess this kind of love. Romans 5:1-5 says that once we are saved or justified, the love of God is poured out from God and into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That is the point where we receive and inherit the God love, the agape love, that enables and compels us to give blessings to others. 

 

Notice that this love is spiritual, internal, unconditional and eternal.

 

Joy and Peace

Joy, like love, is also spiritual, internal, unconditional, and eternal. Joy is internal gladness despite the external madness. The same could be said of peace. Peace is internal serenity, despite the external adversity.

 

Both joy and peace seem to be internal characteristics that are for oneself and have nothing to do with others, but that could be no further from the truth.

 

Every day we interact with somebody and our interaction with them is either good or bad based upon the condition of our heart, based upon our internal state. If we are bounding internally with joy and peace, then we will pour out joy and peace to those whom we interact throughout the day.

 

So, both joy and peace start in the heart and define the condition of our mind, which is best revealed as we communicate and interact with others from day to day.

 

Each day, we must choose to walk in the fruit of the Spirit. Each day we must choose joy and peace. We must ask the Father to refill us in each of the nine fruit of the Spirit. We must choose to be filled with joy so that we will overflow with joy to the benefit of others.

 

How do we overflow with joy? How do we overflow with peace? By making sure that we start off our day with devotional time with the Father—an uninterrupted time of fellowship with him. In his presence is fullness of joy! (Psalm 16:11)

 

He will keep me in perfect peace when I intentionally decide to keep my mind on him. (Isa 26:3)

 

Once again, joy and peace are a daily choice. They start in the heart and then define the condition of our mind. We choose to be still in the presence of the Father and to allow him to refill us with the fruit of his Spirit. We choose to ask for and claim daily joy and peace. We remind ourselves that it is an inside job and has nothing to do with the conditions of the sinful world outside of us. We remind ourselves that while situations and people throughout the day will test us, God has already blessed us with this fruit, and we have already determined to stay in and walk in his nature, his character, his fruit to the glory of God! 

 

Patient and Kindness

Patience and kindness are the second subgroup that need our attention. Therein lies a clear contrast. Patience is how we respond to others and kindness is how we initiate things for others.

 

Patience is all about forbearing and forgiving the imperfection of others. It has been said that the golden rule is to treat others as you would want them to treat you. That’s a pretty good rule. However, when Jesus instituted the New Covenant, He gave us an even higher rule, He told us to treat others the way that He treats us, to love others the way that He loves us! The emphasis here is on his mercy. 

 

Patience means that notwithstanding the imperfections and shortcomings of others we are to forbear, forgive, and be merciful to them in the same way that we want Christ to be merciful to us in all of our imperfections.

 

Once again, we can see how God and Christ are the motivation for this fruit, but man, others, are the beneficiaries of this fruit of the Spirit.

 

Again, procedurally, this fruit relates to others in a responsive mode. It is not about acting or initiating. It’s about how we respond to what they did or didn’t do. It’s about how we learn to be less critical, judgmental, and irritable in the face of others’ behavior.

 

Peter asked the question how many times should we forgive our brother and Jesus’ answer essentially was continually!

 

We give up all right to give up on people! Patience is about forgetfulness. God chooses to not only forgive, but forget our sins and throw them into the sea of forgetfulness!

 

On the other hand, kindness is about thoughtfulness! It is thinking about another and considering how you can initiate some act that demonstrates to them you were thinking about how to bless them. Kindness is a clear message to others that they are valued, appreciated, and always thought of.

 

Goodness and Faithfulness

Like the two sets of fruit before these two, there is a very important connection between these two. Whereas joy and peace are very internal and attitudinal, and patience and kindness are very relational to others, goodness and faithfulness carry a very significant emphasis on one’s relationship with God. They both speak to a morality and character established by God and accountable to God.

 

While one can see how these two fruits can be measured by and responsible to man, in truth their greatest responsibility is to God himself. Goodness is synonymous with righteousness and righteousness, by definition, is being right with God. Either something is good or evil, right or wrong and God is the ultimate determiner of that. So, while man can declare that someone’s act was or wasn’t good, it is only God who knows a person’s heart and can truly determine whether his/her act was indeed good or had some ulterior motive. 

 

In society, we have a saying, “character is what you do when no one is looking.” Well, the fruit of the Spirit called “goodness” is what you do because God is always looking. For example, goodness might cause you to give a beggar some money if you have it to spare. On the other hand, goodness would dictate you return some money that you found on the ground although no one knows you found it, but you. 

 

Because love pleases the Father by giving to the benefit of another, goodness is always looking to do something good for someone. But again, the motivation is pleasing the God that you can’t see. 

 

Because goodness and righteousness go hand in hand, whatever it is that the Word or the Spirit says to do is good and likewise anything that goes against God’s will and Word is not good. In this world in which we live, there is always some temptation to disobey God, whether it’s the voice of Satan, the way of the world, or one’s pride or lust. Goodness thinks more about God than it does itself. Goodness even knows the fallacy of doing the right thing the wrong way. 

 

On the other hand, faithfulness is a close relative of goodness, perhaps even its twin—almost the same but slightly different. Like goodness, whatever faithfulness does is as unto the Lord and not man, though man can easily observe whether someone is faithful. Are they on time? Can they be trusted with deadlines? Can they be trusted with responsibility? Can they be trusted with money? While man can observe and assess these things, ultimately God looks into the heart and sees the true faithfulness of each person. 

 

God not only knows whether someone has been faithful, and is being faithful, He can see whether they will remain faithful in the future, even till the end. This is a very important characteristic because, like goodness, it speaks to the essential nature of God. God is God because He is good and He is faithful. In fact, God cannot lie, He cannot change and He cannot fail! So when we are talking about faithfulness, we are definitely talking about something that reflects God. We are talking about something that gives God the glory, but gives man something good—something He can depend upon. Both goodness and faithfulness are measured over time; they are enduring. 

 

 

Gentleness and Self Control

Gentleness, the eighth fruit of the Spirit, is a very interesting fruit because it is often expressed as meekness or even humility. Therefore, I think it's important to contrast it with patience and kindness. In other words, in I Corinthians 13, it tells us that love is not selfish or self-seeking, that it is not prideful or boastful. Therefore, since Love is the opposite of pride, Love is humble or has humility. Thus, humility has got to be the singular characteristic through our kindness to others or our patience with others. 

 

In other words, when we humble ourselves first to God, then we can humble ourselves to others. When we humble ourselves to God and crucify our pride, then we can, and will think about how we can be kind to others, how we can initiate pleasant acts of kindness to others regardless of how they treat us or regardless of how they may or may not appreciate it. On the other hand, humility will teach us how we can be more forbearing and forgiving of others' wrongs and offenses. It is key attitude of humility that is the fuel that feeds the other fruit and empowers them to do what they should do. 

 

Philippians chapter 2 shows us the meekness and humility of Christ. It lets us know that because of humility we can lower ourselves when we don't have to. The humility of Christ empowers us to be gentle to others when we don't have to. This is the true power. Meekness is not weakness but power under control. So this particular fruit is very important because it speaks to our submission to Christ and that opens the floodgate and releases the fruit to flow and operate abundantly.

 

Gentleness is like patience because we have to forbear with others.

 

Gentleness is akin to self-control because meekness is “power under control.”

 

The control that is needed starts with our thoughts and then with our words and actions, whereas, when we think about self-control, we often think about our fleshly appetites and desires.

 

Gentleness means that we stay set in the character of Christ in the face of things that would otherwise upset us. We stay calm, we stay at peace, which speaks to gentleness is connection to the fruit of the Spirit of peace. Gentleness means that we remain peaceful under fire. Gentleness is that fruit which really speaks to how calm and peaceful we can remain even in the liveliest of discussions. 

 

The thing that causes us to get heated, cannot get the best of us because we have already subjected our pride and our flesh to the essence and example of Christ, who, even when being crucified, did not rail against his offenders. 

 

First Peter 2;21 tell us that we must follow Jesus’s steps, 
“who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;” I Peter‬ 2‬:23‬ NKJV‬‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

 

Just as love is not love until it is tested, none of the fruit of the Spirit is what it is without being tested. But, gentleness seems to be the fruit that highlights this point very well! Anyone can be cool, calm, and collected until attacked, confronted, and offended! When Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem, and went through Jericho, locals were rude to him, and his disciples became incensed about it. They demanded that Jesus called down fire from heaven upon the heads of the offenders. But Jesus admonished them that they knew not what spirit they were off. It was not the spirit of gentleness, but a spirit of retaliation, wrath and vengeance! And we all know that God said, vengeance is mine and I will repay (Romans 12:9).

 

SUMMATION:

The Fruits of the Spirit are:

I. SPIRITUAL

II. INTERNAL

III. ETERNAL

IV. UNCONDITIONAL 

V. RELATIONAL: WITH GOD AND MAN!

 

Here are the nine fruits with some Scriptures references to their particular emphases. 

 

LOVE (the all-encompassing fruit) – BENEFITS OTHERS 

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another

 

JOY AND PEACE ARE A PAIR – THEIR EMPHASIS IS OUR INTERNAL ATTITUDE

THEY ARE BOTH INTERNAL AND RELATIONAL

THAT ATTITUDE IN US FLOWS OUT FROM US TO OTHERS 

Psalm 16:11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. 

 

PRESENCE: IN HIS WORD AND IN PRAYER

HIS PRESENCE produces PEACE, POWER, & PROVISION

Nehemiah 8:10 …Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." 

Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. 

 

FELLOWSHIP (FELLOWS IN THE SAME SHIP) 

Proverbs 13:20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed. 

 

PEACE IS ALSO INTERNAL/RELATIONAL

Isaiah 26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. 

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. 

Ephesians 4:3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Romans 12:18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 

 

PATIENCE AND KINDNESS ARE A PAIR – THEIR EMPHASIS IS DEFINITELY RELATIONAL

PATIENCE IS THE PROPER RESPONSE TO OTHERS WHILE KINDNESS IS THE PROPER INITIATIVE TAKEN TOWARD OTHERS

1Corinthians 13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; 

1Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

2Timothy_2:24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,

Ephesians 4:2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 

Colossians 3:13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

 

KINDNESS

1Corinthians 13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; 

Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. 

Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 

Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 

2Peter 1:7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 

 

GOODNESS AND FAITHFULNESS ARE A PAIR – THEIR EMPHASIS IS HOW TO REMAIN APPROVED BY GOD ALTHOUGH THEIR INTERACTIONS ARE WITH MAN

THEY SPEAK TO THE VERY MORAL CHARACTER OF GOD

2Peter 1:6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 

2Peter_3:11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

1Timothy_6:6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain.

 

FAITHFULNESS

Matthew_25:21 His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

Luke_16:10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Luke_16:12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?

1Timothy_1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,

Titus_1:9 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.

 

GENTLENESS AND TEMPERANCE (SELF CONTROL) ARE THE LAST PAIR – THEIR EMPHASIS ON KEEPING THE RESTRAINT OF CHRIST IN THEIR INTERACTIONS WITH OTHERS. 

1Timothy_3:3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;

2Timothy_2:24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,

Titus_3:2 to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

1Peter_3:4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God

Romans_12:16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

James_4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "GOD RESISTS THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."

James_4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

1Peter_5:5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "GOD RESISTS THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."

1Peter_5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

SELF-CONTROL

2Timothy_3:3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,

2Peter_1:6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,

1Corinthians_7:5 Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

1Corinthians_7:9 but if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

1Corinthians 9:25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 

Titus 1:8 but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, 

1Timothy 3:2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; 

1Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: