What is the "Fruit" of the Spirit?
Hey Family – Join in this week’s discussion about the fruit of the Spirit! Keep reading below and click the discussion title to add your reply.
”But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)
Strong’s Concordance explains that the Greek word karpos, translated as “fruit” in the text above, refers to “that which originates from something; an effect, result.” Therefore, when Paul shares about the “fruit of the Spirit”, he is talking about that which originates with the Holy Spirit. It’s what is produced by the Holy Spirit who is living inside of every believer. We must be careful to remember that this fruit is a result of God in us, not our natural efforts. Think about it: Anyone can make an effort to be more loving to the people in their life, for example, but only believers can manifest God’s love for others by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Furthermore, we see that the word karpos is actually singular (compared to erga, the Greek word denoting the carnal works of the flesh described earlier in Galatians 5). This implies that “fruit” is a unified whole, it’s not just about independent traits. We don’t need to rely on the Spirit for just one virtue at a time – as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, we welcome the entirety of the fruit that the Spirit produces – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Remaining vitally connected to God means the entire personality of Christ will come forth in us.
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Indeed it is! But let’s not gloss over our personal responsibility in all of this. The reality is that the fruit of the Spirit will not show up in our lives without intentionality on our part. When we receive the Holy Spirit as a new believer in Christ, He doesn’t hijack our free will as human beings. We have the gift of free will from the moment we are born until the day we die. Yes, God is present in us, but requires us to exercise our own will to get to know Him and maintain a close relationship with Him. God knows you inside and out and loves you unconditionally, but you absolutely need to get to know Him and learn to trust and love Him more over the course of your life. And like any relationship, your relationship with the God is only as intimate and fruitful as the time, effort and devotion that you put in. Hence the importance of piety like we discussed last week (check out last week’s discussion if you missed it!).
We are often reminded in Scripture of the importance of abiding in God as believers. God abides in us, but we are also responsible for abiding in Him. Consider Jesus’ words in John 15:4-6:
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” – John 15:4-6 (NKJV)
From this Scripture, we can clearly see the connection between intimacy with God and the fruit that God produces (same Greek word: karpos). In the physical world, it’s not the branch that produces the fruit on its own, it’s the branch that remains attached to the tree, which bears fruit from its source. Likewise, it’s not our mere human will that produces the spiritual fruit of God, it’s us taking our human will and choosing to abide in God that makes the difference – that’s how the fruit produced by God becomes visible in our lives.
On the other hand, when a person exercises their free will by making the choice to live apart from God, it’s a completely different situation – that’s like a branch cut off from the tree that ultimately withers and only becomes useful in becoming fuel for a fire. So we would certainly be wise to abide in God instead! The fruit of God in our lives is truly on the line.
Please share your thoughts and consider responding to the questions below:
– Does your understanding of the Greek word karpos refine the way you think about the fruit of the Spirit?
– Has your relationship with the Holy Spirit evolved since you first became a believer? Have you seen evidence of the fruit of the Holy Spirit increasing as you learn to abide in God?
- 3 Replies
Thanks Nia for the educative post and for clearing a common misconception about the fruit of the Spirit. Its good to know we don’t have to try to acquire each one, then it would defeat the purpose of grace and turn it into a set of rules like the law. When we understand that it is about the results expected from our having received the Holy Spirit, then we can yield ourselves more to the loving relationship. Lovely to think of it. Just like saying the characteristics of a human being is that one is able to talk, walk or act in certain ways, thats same with this.But we have our part to play which is exposing ourselves to the right nutrients from the word of God so these qualities can find easy expression in our daily lives.
Thanks @purposefaith. I like the point out also that the above scripture mentions that the fruit is as a result of walking in the Spirit. That’s to say, when you walk in the Spirit you will produce this fruits or result in your life. The fruits abides in us in seed form when we are in dwelled by the Holy Spirit but as we learn to walk in Him and submit to the Holy Spirit’s influence in our lives, we begin to the manifestation of God’s character and nature in us. So, like you mentioned @purposefaith, we have a part to play which is to submit our will to Him.
Thanks for this insightful write up!! Just like oak trees of righteousness may we bear fruits for the kingdom. The bible clearly states that the tree that does not bear fruit will be cut off.
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