G
Gary
Guest
Fruit of the Spirit - Jesus is the example, the Holy Spirit is the source
The spiritual behavior of walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) has the negative effect of causing the believer to put away the habitual, ongoing evil deeds of the flesh and positively causes him to bear the good fruit produced by the Spirit.
The first contrast between the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit is that the products of the flesh are plural, whereas the product of the Spirit is singular. Although Paul does not mention the truth here, there is also a contrast between the degrees to which the deeds and the fruit are produced. A given person may habitually practice only one or two, or perhaps a half dozen, of the sins Paul mentions here. But it would be practically impossible for one person to be habitually active in all of them. The fruit of the Spirit, on the other hand, is always produced completely in every believer, no matter how faintly evidenced its various manifestations may be.
The Bible has much to say about fruit, which is mentioned some 106 times in the Old Testament and 70 times in the New. Even under the covenant of law, a believer produced good fruit only by God’s power, not his own. “From Me comes your fruit,†the Lord declared to ancient Israel (Hosea 14:8).
In the New Testament such things as praise of the Lord (Hebrews 13:15), winning converts to Christ (1 Corinthians 16:15), and godly work in general (Colossians 1:10) are spoken of as spiritual fruit produced through believers. But such action fruit must come from attitude fruit, and that is the kind of fruit Paul focuses on in Galatians 5:22-23. If those attitudes are characteristic of a believer’s life, the fruit of active good works will inevitably follow.
The Spirit never fails to produce some fruit in a believer’s life, but the Lord desires “much fruit†(John 15:8). As an unredeemed person, possessing only a fallen, sinful nature will inevitably manifest that nature in “the deeds of the flesh†(Galatians 5:19), so a believer, possessing a redeemed new nature will inevitably manifest that new nature in the fruit of the Spirit. But it is always possible for the believer to bear and manifest more fruit if he is receptive to the Spirit.
The Spirit’s provision of fruit might be compared to a man standing on a ladder in an orchard, picking the fruit and dropping it into a basket held by a helper below. No matter how much fruit is picked and dropped, the helper will not receive any unless he is standing under the ladder with his basket ready.
The fruit of the Spirit is the outward indicator of salvation. A believer’s sonship to God and citizenship in His kingdom (cf. Galatians 5:21) are manifested by the fruit the Spirit produces in his life. “You will know [men] by their fruits,†Jesus said. “Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit†(Matthew 7:16-18).
In verses Galatians 5:22-23 Paul lists nine representative characteristics of the godly fruit produced by the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life. Although many attempts have been made to categorize these nine virtues in various groupings, most such schemes seem artificial and irrelevant. Whether or not satisfactory classifications of them can be made, it is important to remember that these are multiple characteristics of but one fruit and are therefore inextricably related to one another. They are not produced nor can they be manifested in isolation from each other.
Rather paradoxically, all of the nine manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit are also commanded of believers in the New Testament.
Also in every case, Jesus can be seen to be the supreme example and the Holy Spirit to be the source.
MacArthur, John. F., Galatians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (Chicago: Moody Press) 1987.
- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
The spiritual behavior of walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) has the negative effect of causing the believer to put away the habitual, ongoing evil deeds of the flesh and positively causes him to bear the good fruit produced by the Spirit.
The first contrast between the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit is that the products of the flesh are plural, whereas the product of the Spirit is singular. Although Paul does not mention the truth here, there is also a contrast between the degrees to which the deeds and the fruit are produced. A given person may habitually practice only one or two, or perhaps a half dozen, of the sins Paul mentions here. But it would be practically impossible for one person to be habitually active in all of them. The fruit of the Spirit, on the other hand, is always produced completely in every believer, no matter how faintly evidenced its various manifestations may be.
The Bible has much to say about fruit, which is mentioned some 106 times in the Old Testament and 70 times in the New. Even under the covenant of law, a believer produced good fruit only by God’s power, not his own. “From Me comes your fruit,†the Lord declared to ancient Israel (Hosea 14:8).
In the New Testament such things as praise of the Lord (Hebrews 13:15), winning converts to Christ (1 Corinthians 16:15), and godly work in general (Colossians 1:10) are spoken of as spiritual fruit produced through believers. But such action fruit must come from attitude fruit, and that is the kind of fruit Paul focuses on in Galatians 5:22-23. If those attitudes are characteristic of a believer’s life, the fruit of active good works will inevitably follow.
The Spirit never fails to produce some fruit in a believer’s life, but the Lord desires “much fruit†(John 15:8). As an unredeemed person, possessing only a fallen, sinful nature will inevitably manifest that nature in “the deeds of the flesh†(Galatians 5:19), so a believer, possessing a redeemed new nature will inevitably manifest that new nature in the fruit of the Spirit. But it is always possible for the believer to bear and manifest more fruit if he is receptive to the Spirit.
The Spirit’s provision of fruit might be compared to a man standing on a ladder in an orchard, picking the fruit and dropping it into a basket held by a helper below. No matter how much fruit is picked and dropped, the helper will not receive any unless he is standing under the ladder with his basket ready.
The fruit of the Spirit is the outward indicator of salvation. A believer’s sonship to God and citizenship in His kingdom (cf. Galatians 5:21) are manifested by the fruit the Spirit produces in his life. “You will know [men] by their fruits,†Jesus said. “Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit†(Matthew 7:16-18).
In verses Galatians 5:22-23 Paul lists nine representative characteristics of the godly fruit produced by the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life. Although many attempts have been made to categorize these nine virtues in various groupings, most such schemes seem artificial and irrelevant. Whether or not satisfactory classifications of them can be made, it is important to remember that these are multiple characteristics of but one fruit and are therefore inextricably related to one another. They are not produced nor can they be manifested in isolation from each other.
Rather paradoxically, all of the nine manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit are also commanded of believers in the New Testament.
Also in every case, Jesus can be seen to be the supreme example and the Holy Spirit to be the source.
MacArthur, John. F., Galatians: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (Chicago: Moody Press) 1987.
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