The Fruit of the Spirit

By Arthur J Licursi

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23).

The “fruit of the Spirit” is that combination of graces evidenced in the lives of the believers who “walk in (in harmony with) the Spirit” (Gal 5:25).

We should never make the mistake of supposing that “the Spirit,” in Gal. 5:22-23, refers to “the spirit of man which is in him” (1 Cor. 2:11). No, “the Spirit” refers to the “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2b) who indwells the spirit of the believer.

Paul wrote; “Now the Lord (Jesus) is that Spirit” (2Cor 3:17, cf. Rom 8:9-10), Christ rose from the dead as “the life-giving Spirit (1Cor 15:45b). Christ indwells every believer as their new life (Gal 2:20). The spiritual virtues listed as “the fruit of the Spirit” (above) do not spring from any goodness that is naturally of us, but rather these are “the fruit of Christ’s Spirit” that dwells and moves within us.

So “The fruit of the Spirit” are graces that aren’t the product of human effort. We never see apple trees in an orchard straining and struggling to produce apples – no, the fruit of the tree is the spontaneous automatic result of the life within. Paul wrote “Christ In You, the hope of glory (expression)” ( Col 1:27). The phrase “the fruit of the Spirit” makes clear that the fruit is the natural product of growth that is of the life of the Spirit within.

I recently had occasion to be at a “celebration of life” gathering for the deceased husband of a hospital co-worker of my wife. While at this gathering, a certain woman who my wife had not seen in several years came over to speak with my wife saying; “You have no idea how much you helped me just listening to me in my awful time of trial. I can still see your smiling face.” What is amazing is this, though my wife recalled and new the woman, she had no recollection of that specific encounter. Linda was just being who she was “in Christ.” Obviously it was “the fruit of Christ’s Spirit” that spontaneously flowed through Linda, as she apparently watered and refreshed and strengthened this lady with His “water of life.” This is how it ought to be; we are to unknowingly bless others with His life. We have no credit to take for these ourselves, because this fruit is of the Christ Spirit in us, it’s not of us.

“But we have this treasure in earthen (human) vessels, that the Excellency of the Power May Be Of God, and NOT of us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)

In Gal 5:19-21, “the fruit of the Spirit” is contrasted with “the works of the flesh,” which are all bad. Before we became believers, our manner of living was not pure or righteous; we were a self for self. We were self-loving and serving-self. Even “our” self-effort in doing good, no matter how commendable it may have “appeared,” was rooted in the pride motive that springs from of “the flesh.” Paul tells us “whatsoever is not of faith (trust in Christ as our life) is sin.”(Rom 14:23b). When we simply live by knowing and trusting Christ within us, the fruit is related to the root, which is Christ. When our doings are rooted in Christ, this is “good fruit.” When our doings are rooted in “the flesh (our self),” then the fruit has the stench of rot.

No matter how admirable good fruit is, the fact is that the graces the Holy Spirit produces in a yielded believer are certainly not those which “the world” admires. The world admires people of self-confidence, self-respect, self-made men, intellectual prowess, personal natural magnetism, authority, etc., while the Spirit produces “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” Consider the difference. A man may have self-confidence, intellectual acumen, political or other power — and he may still be very difficult to live with, even tyrannical at work or home. These are not so with the virtues which “the Spirit” produces. Of those who possess these genuine graces of Christ’s life within, the Apostle Paul says: “Against such there is no law” (v23).