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).
Our opening verse says ” But the fruit of the Spirit is…” Because of the capitalizing of the letter ‘s’ for ‘spirit’ there are many Christians who believe that it’s referring to the Holy Spirit. Because it says “the fruit of the Spirit”, they think Paul is talking about the fruit of the Holy Spirit; but it is not talking about the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit doesn’t have fruit! What Paul is referring to here, is the fruit of the recreated human spirit- the new creation man.
The Bible talks about the outward man, and the inward man (see, 2 Cor 4:16). The inward man or what Peter calls “the hidden man of the heart” (1 Peter 3:4), is the recreated human spirit; when you got born again it was your spirit that was recreated and not your soul, or your body. The outward man is your body and it’s senses. In chapter 5 of the book of Galatians, Paul was contrasting between the works of the spirit (inward man) and the flesh (outward man). Take for instance, verse 16 & 17 ” This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” he says you either function by your spirit, or by your senses.
In verse 19-21, Paul talks about the works of the flesh (the outward man), while in verse 22-23 he talks about the works of the spirit (inward man; the recreated human spirit); he calls it the ‘fruit’ and not ‘the fruits’ because he is looking at the product, or the outworking of the spirit man.
Our Lord Jesus said ” I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same BRINGETH FORTH MUCH FRUIT: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5. The Holy Spirit can hardly qualify to be the branches, He is the vine and we are the branches; it is the branches that bear fruit and not the vine.
So you need not to pray ” o God, give me the fruit of the Spirit”, you already have them in you, because you were born again with them (they are your nature); what you have to do is to develop them. How? By renewing your mind with the word of God; you’d be spiritually minded and not fleshly. And doing what the word says.
Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith (from Greek “pistis” meaning: faith, faithfulness, steadfastness; better rendered “faithfulness” than “faith” in this context), Meekness, temperance: are part of your new nature in Christ Jesus. So “…walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:16). Praise God!
Pastor Jack Siame
The Wonder's Revival Impact Team 