The Fruit of the Spirit
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” - Galatians 5:22&23
Apostle Paul writes, “the fruit of the Spirit is love”, and then lists eight characteristics of love. It is clear from the rest of the book of Galatians that this list is not given as a set of objectives to persevere after, but rather, Paul was writing to rectify a group of believers who were falsely trying to lower salvation to an index of tasks to accomplish. This is a list of the fruit of the Spirit, not a list for the fruit of us. The Spirit alone can produce these fruits within a believer’s life.
When the Holy Spirit is in control of our lives He alone will produce these fruits, which indicates a relationship with Christ. Paul was writing to make sure that people in Galatia knew how to spot the evidence of the Holy Spirit in their lives, and that the works of the flesh - adultery, fornication, idolatry, etc. (Galatians 5:19-21) – were not the work of the Holy Spirit.
In the gospel of Matthew Jesus warned his followers to be wary of false teachers, “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” – Matthew 7:18-20. Simply put, false teaching is not from God and therefore it lacks the power of God’s word. However, those who teach God’s word honestly will see good fruit as a result of the Holy Spirit. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” – Isaiah 55:11.
Instead of dwelling on how many times you mess up each day by not being patient or kind, concentrate instead on God and that he has placed His Holy Spirit inside you giving you the ability to display the fruits of the Spirit. It’s not what we can do, but what’s already inside us that permits us to have good fruits.