Note-all Scripture references in parenthesis are direct links God's Word so that you can easily click and read what The LORD has to say about the section before the reference. I encourage you to click, read, study and even memorize these passages for yourself and NOT to just not just take my word for it. (Psalm 119)
But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature together with its passions and appetites. – Galatians 5:22-24 AMP
The word Spirit here is a direct reference to The Holy Spirit. That’s the way it was in the original manuscript and thus why it is capitalized here. Thayer’s defines the word fruit as “that which originates or comes from something, an effect, result.”
Paul tells us here that if Holy Spirit actually lives in us that there will be an effect shown in our lives as specific fruit that comes directly from The Holy Spirit. He then goes on to describe what this specific fruit will look like in our lives to all of those around us.
He begins with love. The original word used here is agapē. This type of love is one that is sacrificial. It means that we put other’s needs in front of our own. We care more about where those around us will spend eternity over our own selfish desires and wants and this is clearly displayed in all areas of how we live our lives. It is also exactly what Jesus told us to do if we want to be His disciples and follow Him, to deny ourselves! (Matthew 16:24-26)
Joy—if The Holy Spirit lives in us, then He will cause us to have joy in our lives no matter what. As Paul told us in Philippians 4:4, twice, we are to always rejoice. This is ONLY possible because of The Holy Spirit living inside of us. He is the source of our joy! Everyone around us will see this true joy that comes from Him regardless of what we’re going through. It is not fake because God is not fake!
This doesn’t mean that we don’t have times of sorrow as we’re told in Romans 12:15 that we’re to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Just like all areas of the rest of how we live/walk, it’s how we’re known because our life shows a long pattern of obedience in the same direction (towards The LORD).
Peace—the AMP version says inner peace. This side of heaven there will never be peace in this world. It’s ok to pray for it, but it won’t last until there’s a new heaven and a new earth! So the peace that Paul is describing here can ONLY be inside of us. In Philippians 4:5-7, Paul explains what the formula to get that peace is. We’re not to worry and we’re to be in prayer to not only bring our needs to The LORD, but to also be thankful to Him for all He’s done for us and for whatever situation we find ourselves in. This is when we get true peace, no matter what is going on. Our human minds CANNOT understand this peace. It won’t make sense to us. It is a peace that comes only through a relationship with The LORD Jesus Christ and is in spite of what is going on around us.
We also need to remember that we play a part in getting that peace. We get it when and only when, The Holy Spirt actually lives inside us and is in control of our lives. We don’t get to choose how we live our lives according to what we think rather than what God tells us in His Word, and then expect everything to work out for our good and have true peace.
Patience—I like what the AMP says here, it’s not the waiting, we all have to wait for lots of things to happen as we live life on this earth. It’s how we act, what we do while we’re waiting. Looking at this from a heavenly perspective, what are we doing with our lives between when we become a true Christ follower/disciple and when we get to go to heaven! When we’re in the middle of a situation that we didn’t create, are we patiently waiting to see what The LORD is wanting to do in our lives and the others around us and the situation?
Waiting has another meaning besides stopping and doing nothing. It also means serving. If we want to truly show that we are living for The LORD and trusting in His faithfulness no matter what is going on in our lives, then we will serve Him with all we have knowing that He has our best interests in mind and only wants us and those around us to grow into a deeper relationship with Him as we become more like Christ on this earth. (Jeremiah 29:11-this verse is NOT talking about getting rich with things of this earth, James 1:2-4, John 16:33, Romans 8:28-29)
Kindness—defined as moral goodness. We do what we do because it’s the right thing to do, not because of what we will get from doing what we do or because someone did or didn’t do the right thing to us. Sounds like the “golden rule” that Jesus gave us in Matthew 7:12.
Goodness—this word can also mean kindness but in it’s underlying meaning, says that what we do will display the uprightness of our hearts and lives. In other words, our lives will show Christ’s righteousness living in and through us.
Faithfulness—this word means more about what we believe about who The LORD is and what He does rather than what we can do towards Him. This is played out in our lives by the way we live them. People will see in us the fact that we totally rely on and trust in The LORD because of how we actually live our lives, not because of what we say! We live our lives based on His faithfulness to us; we really have no faithfulness of our own! God is the Author and Perfector of the faith that He gives us, it’s not the other way around! (Hebrews 12:2)
Gentleness—this is shown in our lives by how humble we really are. Saying we’re humble is NOT being humble at all. Our actions speak louder than our words and tell the real truth to those around us of what we are made of! The way in which we speak to each other is also a sign of gentleness.
Self-control—we clearly show with our words and actions that we do NOT give in to our fleshly desires and passions. Self-control is sacrificial in meaning as we love others and don’t demand our way. We don’t scream and yell as we jump up and down demanding that we get our own way!!
We cannot produce the fruit of The Holy Spirit unless we quit living our lives any way we want. Paul tells us in Romans 8:28-29 that all things work together for good, and the good is in vs 29, we’re to be transformed into the image of Christ. The conditions in vs 28 of all things working out for our good, is that we sacrificially love The LORD and do those things that He wants us to do. So again, dying to our desires! (Matthew 16:24-26)
As Christians the tree we’re supposed to be growing from is the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the tree we grow from is shown in the way we live our lives. If the tree is the Holy Spirit, then the fruit produced will be all of the above-mentioned fruit, not just some of it. We don’t get to pick and choose which fruit we bare. Fruit is single in this verse! The Holy Spirit wants to exemplify Himself in us by producing all of this fruit.
How will we live our lives today to allow The Holy Spirit to produce the fruit in our lives that He desires? What changes do we need to make in order to allow Him to do what He wants with our lives? After all, He gave up His life to become our LORD, shouldn’t that alone, which is the greatest sacrifice of all, compel us into a life lived only for Him?
Please don't hesitate to reach out to us with any questions, prayer requests, etc. We'd love to pray with and for you and to the best of our ability answer any questions you may have soley using God's Word!
Love y’all and LORD Bless,
Curt & Mary Jo
