Day 117: What Is The Fruit of the Spirit?
The Holy Spirit has been given to us so that we are empowered to produce the good, virtuous way of Jesus in our own lives. This is what we were designed to do. Even though we have been corrupted by the power of sin, the Holy Spirit enables us to produce the goodness of God as we live by and in Him.
WORDwork:
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 5:23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. 5:26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.
Why do you think Paul calls these qualities the “Fruit” of the Spirit as opposed to the “Works” of the Flesh?
Why do you think there is no Law against things like the Fruit of the Spirit?
What has happened to those who belong to Christ?
What should we do if we are living by the Spirit?
Yesterday, we discussed the Desires of the Spirit vs. the Desires of the Flesh. In that section, Paul listed some examples of the “works” of the Flesh. Today, we focus on the “Fruit” of the Spirit. It is important that Paul distinguishes “works”from “fruit.” The term “work” leads us to think of doing thing by our own power and effort. The term “fruit” leads us to think of something that is being produced in and through us, not by our effort, but by the power of the Spirit.
If think about a fruit tree, it doesn’t spend its time working hard to produce fruit. Instead, when it is given water, nutrients from the soil, and sunlight, the fruit is produced as the natural function of the tree. We were designed to be the image and likeness of our Creator God, to be “fruitful” in every way, even expressing His goodness and righteousness in all that we are. Sin corrupted that process, but now In Christ, through the Holy Spirit, we can be made “fruitful” again. This is not something we do by our own energy and power, but doing what we can to give ourselves over to the Spirit.
Paul lists 9 “fruitS” of the Spirit. But take note: Paul uses the singular term “fruit.” This has led some to think that Paul sees only 1 fruit of the Spirit: Love. The other 8 would simply be filling out what Love looks like when lived out. It may be that Paul is thinking of all these qualities as a singular “unit” as they are all interconnected and related with Love being the prime virtue that links them all together. He has a similar construction in Colossians:
Colossians 3:12–14
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 3:13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 3:14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. (ESV)
The list of the “fruit” here is fairly self explanatory. These are character qualities that characterize Jesus Himself. It is also significant that these qualities are necessary to cultivate fellowship and peace and oneness among Christ’s people. The works of the Flesh promote discord and strife and division.
There is no Law against these types of things—the Fruit of the Spirit because Law is given to point out and condemn what is untrue, unjust, unwholesome, unlovely. In the reality of Father God’s creation, the qualities like the Fruit of the Spirit define what is eternal, what is forever valuable—things that characterize The Kingdom and The King.
Again, Paul emphasizes a key truth: In Christ and with Christ our Flesh has been crucified along with its desires and passions. In Christ, the “power” our Flesh can have over us has already been broken. We are truly free and we could use that freedom to give ourselves over to the “Fleshly desires.” Sadly, many who claim to follow Christ do that very thing. Paul calls us to something better: to live by the leading and empowerment of the Spirit.
If we are truly living by The Spirit, His Fruit will become evident in our behavior. If we are truly living by The Spirit we should also behave in a way that is consistent with the goodness of The Spirit.
As a illustration of all this, Jesus teaches us an important spiritual truth through the example of the “Good Tree vs. Bad Tree”:
Luke 6:43–45
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 6:44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from brambles. 6:45 The good person out of the good treasury of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury produces evil, for his mouth speaks from what fills his heart.”
In Christ, we are in the process of being transformed into “Good Trees.” We are being transformed into people who are defined by goodness and grace: love. This is not something that is directly in our power to do. It is something that is being done to us.
At the end of this passage, Paul uses similar agricultural figures of speech, the imagery of “harvest,” to highlight the results of “sowing” to the Spirit as opposed to the Flesh:
Galatians 6:7–10
Do not be deceived. God will not be made a fool. For a person will reap what he sows, 6:8 because the person who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
Father God desires that we “sow to The Spirit” which means doing what we do, living our lives, investing in the things of The Spirit and following Him as He leads us to be like Christ. This is not something we are only doing for ourselves; we are living this “Spirit led Way” to serve others, especially our other brothers and sisters in Christ.
Galatians 6:9
So we must not grow weary in doing good, for in due time we will reap, if we do not give up. 6:10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith.
As we move forward we are going to be discussing ways we can cooperate with Father God as He works in us and through us. It is important to remember that this is a process and Father God does not expect you to be perfect now. It is also important to remember that Father God has saved us in order to make us like Jesus. He does not expect us to do this own our own. He has given us His Spirit and the Body of Christ to build us up into a House, a Temple in which He makes His Home in us all.
Think about this whole passage. You may want to read it all again in one sitting: Galatians 5:1-26. Does the Fruit of the Spirit characterize your life? If not, why?
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
