Galatians 5:22, 23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
If you have ever wondered if it is a typographical error that the bible talks about ‘the fruit of the spirit’ instead of ‘the fruits of the spirit’ then you are not alone. Many people even assume it is a typo and go on to talk about the fruits of the spirit. Well it is not a typographical error; the bible indeed talks about the fruit of spirit.
The fruit of the spirit is a nine fold fruit that the Holy Spirit works in us. Every believer ought to have all nine fruit manifesting or being built in their life. In other words you cannot say you are a believer and not have any of these fruit working in you.
The fruit of the spirit identifies us; “by their fruit you shall know them….”
Jesus talks about good fruit and bad fruit when He was teaching about those we can identify as His and those who are “wolves in sheep clothing”. The fruit of the spirit is the good fruit. When you have the Holy Spirit in you and you are submitted to Him, you will produce good fruit and you will seek to do God’s will.
The fruit of the spirit build us to become like Christ; we know that when Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit He said that the Holy Spirit will take what He receives from Him (Jesus) and will give to us. So the very character of Christ is built in us when we allow the Holy Spirit to work out His fruit in us.
The fruit of the spirit is different from the gifts of the spirit in the sense that the gifts of the spirit are automatically given to a believer and God gives them as He pleases. The gifts of the spirit are separate and individual which means that you can have one without the others. It is important to know that Jesus didn’t say “by their gift you shall know them…” which means that just because a person operates in a particular gifting it doesn’t mean that they are living according to the spirit. The fruit of the spirit is only built in you when you allow the Holy Spirit to lead you.
The thing about the fruit of the spirit is that it is dynamic in the sense that one leads to the other and they can be sprouting at the same time or at different times. They are also produced in each of us in different ways and in different modes. For instance the bible tells us severally that when we go through afflictions and tribulations this is the testing of our faith and it will produce perseverance or long suffering in us.
In the course of the next coming weeks we will discuss the 9 fruit of the spirit. We will also find out what they are and what they mean to us as believers.
Matthew 7:16-20 “You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So you’ll recognize them by their fruit”
John 16:12-15 “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you. Everything the Father has is Mine. This is why I told you that He takes from what is Mine and will declare it to you.
1 Corinthians 12: 7-10 “A demonstration of the spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial: to one is given a message of wisdom through the spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same spirit, to another, faith by the same spirit to another, the gifts of healing by the one spirit, to another the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of languages, to another interpretation of languages.”
James 1:3 “knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance”
Romans 5:3-5 “and not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Temitope Talabi is a founding member of The Trent Voices currently reside in Austin, TX. She graduated with a PharmD from Texas Southern University in Houston, TX. She works as a community pharmacist and spends her spare time writing to build and encourage others through the word of God. Temitope is also currently working on a series of self-help books created to empower people to take charge of their health and wellness, the first of which is scheduled to be released early next year.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
