The Fruit of the Spirit
For many years now I have tried to have a special Bible study during my week of vacation. This year was no exception – I studied the fruit of the Spirit. I was blessed and wanted to share some of that blessing. My plan is simple, even though I will take all week 😁: (Mon) What is meant by the “fruit" of the Spirit? / (Tue) Why “fruit” and not “fruits” ? / (Wed-Fri) The fruit of the Spirit: a brief explanation of each.
This is Monday so this must be: What is meant by the “fruit” of the Spirit?
The “fruit of the Spirit” is that which originates or comes from the Holy Spirit, it is the result or produce of the life of the Spirit. When we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are born again and the Holy Spirit gives us life. Then, when we receive the baptism or infilling of the Holy Spirit, as A.B. Simpson put it, “To be filled with the Spirit will bring us the fullness of Jesus.” He went on to say, “Be filled with the Spirit. Let the heavenly water flow into every channel of irrigation and by every garden bed and plant, until all the graces of our Christian life shall be replenished by His grace, and bloom like the garden of the Lord. Only abide in Him and have His abiding, and you shall bring forth all the fruit of the Spirit.” He explained, “This, by a simple figure [of a garden], is Christ's theory of a deeper life. Our being is the soil, He is the seed, His Holy Spirit is the Fountain of living Waters, and "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."” *
This idea of fruit as” that which originates or comes from something, an effect, result” (Strong’s Concordance) runs throughout the New Testament.
Matthew 3:8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:
Matthew 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Romans 6:21-22 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Ephesians 5:8-9 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
Philippians 1:11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
James 3:18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
The “fruit of the Spirit” then is simply but gloriously, that which originates or comes from the Holy Spirit.
*(A.B. Simpson, The Holy Spirit or Power From On High, vol 2; Chapter 9 - Filled with the Spirit)
Why “fruit” and not “fruits”?
“The apostle compares people to trees, one yielding good the other bad fruit; the productions of each being according to the nature of the tree, as the tree is according to the nature of the seed from which it sprung. The bad seed produced a bad tree, yielding all manner of bad fruit; the good seed produced a good tree, bringing forth fruits of the most excellent kind.” (Adam Clarke)
OK, so how can these 9 “fruits of the most excellent kind”
be referred to in the singular, “fruit”? I mean, Paul spoke of the 17 “works”
of the flesh, but the 9 “fruit” of the Spirit.
I have encountered three explanations:
1) This was not an issue for the early church fathers. They sometimes referred to the “fruits” of the Spirit and would often quote a few as representing all: “Now the fruit of the Spirit is peace, love, joy, patience, goodness” / “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.”
“Why does he say, the fruit of the Spirit? He places first the root of these good things, and then proceeds to recount them…” Chrysostom
3) While John Wesley was inclined to #2, he also said, “Works are mentioned in the plural because they are distinct from, and often inconsistent with, each other. But "the fruit of the Spirit" is mentioned in the singular as being all consistent and connected together.”
I confess, I don’t know the answer to my own question! I like what Wesley said, and it’s similar to what Augustine said, the nine fruit of the Spirit “forms one unity in a kind of wondrous cluster.”
The Fruit Of The Spirit
LOVE
This is agape, this is the chief virtue of the gospel and as
such there are plenty of verses in the NT (occurs in every book of the NT
except for two). This makes brevity difficult, but I shall try!
1 Pet 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren… The new birth
Rom 5:5 …the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us. The baptism with the Holy Spirit.
The love of God – we know we are loved by the Father and we then love others with that love. Praise God! What wonderful fruit!
But also this:
John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
1 Pet 1:22 …see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
JOY
This is the joy of the Lord – both His joy over us & our
gladness in Him.
John 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Rom 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Rom 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing…
1 Thess 1:6 …with joy of the Holy Ghost:
1 Pet 1:8 …ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
He gives joy and we
Phil 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.
PEACE
There is the peace with God, being right with God, and the peace of God, which is having the same attitude God has toward our circumstances. What a wonderful grace!
Rom 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Rom 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing
Phil 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Even here we are not mere automatons: “let not your hearts be troubled” / “let your requests be made known unto him” / “whose mind is stayed on him”
LONGSUFFERING
This “is the self-restraint which does not hastily retaliate a wrong; opposed to wrath or revenge” (J.B. Lightfoot) “A man is longsuffering, who having power to avenge himself, yet refrains from the exercise of this power.” (Chrysostom) This is what I call “people patience”. longsuffering expresses it beautifully.
We see this first and best in God, Or do you despise the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? (Rom 2:4) What an example we have in this love of God!
Col 1:11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. This must be granted to us, given to us.
Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. Then we put it on by faith.
GENTLENESS
Gentleness is a good word and a good character quality, but ‘kindness’ seems to be the intent.
Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Replace ‘goodness’ with ‘kindness’ and what a picture!!
Titus 3:4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared.
If this is the fruit of the Spirit, what a transforming work it is!!
Col 3:12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. Put it on, Wow! Start acting in kindness and trust the Spirit to bear the fruit.
GOODNESS
“Uprightness of heart and life, goodness, kindness” “A man might display his ‘goodness’, his zeal for goodness and truth, in rebuking, correcting, chastising. As Christ did when He drove the buyers and sellers out of the temple; or when He uttered all those terrible words against the Scribes and Pharisees; but we could not say that his ‘kindness’ was shown in these acts of a righteous indignation. ‘Kindness’ was rather displayed in his reception of the penitent woman.” (Trench, Synonyms of the NT)
2 Thess 1:11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power. This is powerful! God’s ‘goodness’ led Him to action, rescuing us from sin!
Rom 15:14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Goodness leads us to admonish our brethren when needed.
Eph 5:9 For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth
Goodness, righteousness, and truth walk hand in hand. When
we have this fruit of goodness, we are not mamby pamby, we stand for truth and
righteousness, but oh how we need to mix it with kindness!
FAITH
The Greek word is the regular word for “faith", but this is not faith to be saved, or filled, or for prayer; nor is it the spiritual gift of faith. When you are filled with the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, He creates an attitude of trust in the Lord, cultivates and strengthens our faith in Christ. Most modern translations translate it ‘faithfulness’, but I believe it is faith.
Martin Luther had an interesting take on this: Paul means “faith in men. Such faith is not suspicious of people but believes the best. Naturally the possessor of such faith will be deceived, but he lets it pass. Where this virtue is lacking men are suspicious, forward, and wayward and will believe nothing nor yield to anybody. Such faith in people therefore, is quite necessary. What kind of life would this be if one person could not believe another person?” (Commentary on Galatians)
While what he said is true, I still think it is faith in Christ.
MEEKNESS
Gentleness of attitude and behavior, in contrast with harshness in one’s dealings with others. Gentleness, meekness, mildness, humility. Truly a life transforming fruit!
Ephesians 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Titus 3:2 To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.
1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
TEMPERANCE
Basically it means self-control, as most modern translations render it, but it’s more than moderation, y’know, turning down that second piece of pie. This is the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites. The Latin New Testament, as seen in the Douay-Rheims translation, has 12 fruits of the Spirit, partly because it has three words for temperance, “the fruit of the Spirit is … modesty, continency, chastity”, but these three words capture the meaning better than simply ‘self-control.’
“Christians are to lead sober and chaste lives. They should not be adulterers, fornicators, or sensualists. They should not be quarrelers or drunkards. In the first and second chapters of the Epistle to Titus, the Apostle admonishes bishops, young women, and married folks to be chaste and pure.” (Martin Luther)
Acts 24:25 Paul’s message to Felix, And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come
2 Peter 1:6 And add to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness
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