WHAT IS THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
We hear the phrase often, but what exactly does “fruit of the spirit” mean?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
To walk in the Spirit means that the Holy Spirit lives in you. You are putting your life in the continual presence in the Spirit of God. You are abiding with Jesus as a vine abides with a tree. Take a look at John 15:5 where Jesus explains the relationship between the vine and its branches. In the same way, we abide by the Holy Spirit.
“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5
Living in the fruit of the spirit means You are aware of the influence of the Holy Spirit. As a child of God, you’ll want to shape your life around the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Someone who walks in the Spirit patterns his or her life after Jesus Christ. It is a way of faith.
The opposite of walking in the fruit of the spirit is following the fleshly desires that are second nature to us as human beings.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21
But it’s not natural for humankind to live by faith and live a life without sin. It takes effort, but it’s doable and we’ll get to that in a bit. Keep reading. First, let’s dig into the Fruit of the Spirit.
HOW MANY FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT ARE THERE?
There are nine attributes or characteristics that are included in the Fruit of the Spirit. They are called characteristics because they become traits of the one who follows Jesus in their life. And they are called fruit because they’re a product of the tree that they grow from, in this case, Jesus. He is the vine, we are the branches. Refer back to John 15:5.
What are the attributes of a piece of fruit? Paul references to fruit in the singular, meaning they all come together to produce a single work. So when we incorporate each of the nine fruits into our life, we are living out our objective as Christians. That objective is to follow God’s will for our life. This again fulfils God’s commandment to love others as ourselves.
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
If you look at the last half of verse Galatians 5:23, of our key scriptures, it says “against such, there is no law.” This means that when you live by the Fruit of the Spirit, there is no need for the law. Now, this is not the governing laws of our country (which we should obey), but the law of Moses that was nailed to the tree when Jesus died for our sins. Jesus replaced that law.
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:25-26
What this means is, that if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our saviour and have received the Holy Spirit, then we must let the Holy Spirit direct our steps. It is important that we don’t put on vainglory or become conceited. Because when we do that, it provokes others. When we are conceited it opens up the sin of envy which has no place in the life of a child of God.
WHAT ARE THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT
So, what exactly are the 9 fruits (characteristics) of the spirit?
Let’s break down the definition of the fruits of the spirit to help you understand what each one means and how you can apply it to your own life.
- Love
- Joy
- Peace
- Longsuffering
- Kindness
- Goodness
- Faithfulness
- Gentleness
- Self-control
