Fruit of the Spirit

In a familiar passage of Scripture Paul described what he called the fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians 5:22-23 we see, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” The Spirit that Paul referenced is God’s Holy Spirit, and the fruit is what He can produce in the life of a believer. The fruit of the Spirit differs from the gifts of the Spirit in that the former is a package deal and the latter is a list.

There are many gifts of the Spirit, and we do not get to pick which ones we get; furthermore, we are not expected to have each of the gifts on the list. When it comes to the fruit of the Spirit, however, we are not sovereignly given certain fruits. It is the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruits. We do not get to say, “I’ll take peace, but don’t expect me to be patient. That isn’t my fruit.” As maturing Christians, God wants us each to have all of the fruit Paul listed, and He sends His Holy Spirit to help make that happen.

At the end of Paul’s list he writes, “Against such there is no law.” That shows Paul’s sense of humor. In essence he was saying, “It isn’t against the law to live like this.” Not even the worst human governments have passed laws making it illegal to be faithful or gentle; none have outlawed joy or self-control. While some today think they can be good without God, the reality is God defines what is good. The atheist claims he is a good person without God’s help, but it is God that told us not to murder, not to lie, not to steal. The things that God told us to manifest—goodness, kindness, love, etc., are valued qualities across the board. There is no goodness without God because God is the one that established what is good.

For those who belong to God it is not optional whether or not we produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, for it is by that fruit that we prove we really are God’s children (Matthew 7:16-20). If the nine fruits mentioned in Galatians are constantly on display in our lives, we will surely point the world to our Father. After all, it is the Holy Spirit, the Master Gardener, that produces these good works in us. If you are lacking any of this fruit, ask the Lord to help you cultivate them in your life.