Ramblings on 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

The manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit in the believer’s life is the result of one’s willingness to walk in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit has been defined as an act of conducting oneself, ordering one’s life in subjection to the Holy Spirit of God. To accomplish this we surrender our will to do His will and allow Him to direct our lives in harmony with the clear teaching of God’s Word. This requires that we allow the disciplines of the Christian life to have a profound impact upon our lives.

Just because we practice the Christian disciplines – prayer, Bible reading, Bible memorization, etc does not make us spiritual beings. The Christian disciplines are not an end in themselves but stepping stones to the life God wants to live in and through us. In other words, they are the means by which the fruit of the Spirit is produced in us.

This highlights a very basic truth regarding the fruit of the Spirit. They are not natural to the human experience. Yes, the human experience knows love, joy, etc but each one is tainted by man’s sin nature and in no way compare to wonderful manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit. The human experience of these characteristics apart from the work of the Holy Spirit is flawed and fleeting.

The Holy Spirit’s ultimate goal is the development of godly character in the believer. Character is who you are and what you do is an expression of your character even when no one but God is looking. As we look at the fruit of the Spirit, we will be looking at nine characteristics that are essential elements of maturity.

It is important to note that the individual fruit of the Spirit, nine in all, are never fully developed within the believer’s life. Having grown in love, you will always need to grow more in love. The process never stops this side of eternity. The same can be said for the other fruit of the Spirit.

We must not make the mistake to think spiritual maturity consist of the development of these nine characteristics alone. As you study the Word of God you will realize that there are other characteristics that are essential. Most likely you will be able to see each of these characteristic as a par to one of these nine. For example, I would put on the list the need to be compassionate but compassion is not something separate from love but an integral part of love.

Another thought before we end to today’s blog. While there is an integral unity among the various fruits of the Spirit [demonstrated by the Scriptural title fruit of the Spirit], the various individual fruits of the Spirit must be present in the believer’s life but they will not all be equally developed.

Our next posting will explore the first mentioned fruit of love.