The Fruit of the Spirit

D. Scott Meadows

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).

God’s Word in Scripture uproots so much of what we think we know about God and the good life based on extra-biblical sources of information. Without it, our true knowledge is very limited. It includes nothing about how to be saved. Further, so much of what we think we know is distorted by ours and others’ sinful suppression of the religious and moral truth that God gives us without Scripture. You must realize this as a Christian and learn a holy distrust of your intuition in favor of biblical doctrine, as preposterous as it may seem to your fallible judgment.

This passage about the fruit of the Holy Spirit is a stellar example of counter-intuitive and supplementary truth, against the conventional wisdom of the unconverted and beyond what they could possibly know without the Bible’s witness to these truths. Open your mind and heart to receive its message and pray that you will be edified and love what you learn from it.

ITS BIG IDEA

By “big idea,” I mean a broad, telescopic view of the matter. “The fruit of the Spirit” builds upon and is related to a vast amount of biblical teaching concerning God and man, sin and redemption, and Christ and His church.

The Spirit in this text is without a doubt a reference to the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the blessed Trinity and of the very same divine essence as God the Father and God the Son, as there is only one God, and He is one in Himself, not composed of any parts. The Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son, God of God, Light of Light, and Life of Life. By the biblical principle called appropriations, Scripture often assigns the credit for life in the creatures in particular to God the Holy Spirit, though His operations in creation are in truth inseparable from the operations of the Father and the Son.

“The fruit of the Spirit” is not about His original creative operations but His re-creative operations in God’s elect. We were devoid of spiritual life before conversion. The image of God in us had been horribly marred, and even what we thought were our good works were only so many “splendid sins” in the sight of God. Then the Spirit came to us, regenerated our souls, took up His gracious dwelling with us, and began restoring the Paradise in us which has its full consummation in the cosmos only when Christ returns.

The big idea of the fruit of the Spirit is that the only true virtue we have in the sight of God is that which the Holy Spirit produces in Christian believers. Without Him, all we have are “the works of the flesh” (Gal 5.19-21). Even true Christians are utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit for our spiritual life and vitality—the same Spirit that dwelt in Jesus Christ and that is His resurrection life transforming us to follow Him faithfully as our Lord. The true church is the fellowship of these Spirit-filled believers.

ITS NINE ASPECTS

Taking a microscope to examine the fruit of the Spirit more closely, we notice nine aspects listed in this passage. We call them nine “aspects” rather than nine fruits because they are all alike the moral perfections of the same Jesus. They are like sections of an orange, not a bowl of mixed fruit. A careful study of each word and topic within the whole of Scripture is warranted but only a concise description is possible here.

• Love, our spiritual love of fellow Christians because Christ loves them, the same kind of love that sacrifices ourselves for their benefit.

• Joy, far above that which is called joy in unbelievers on account of earthly blessings; a spiritual joy in God and His favor toward us.

• Peace, a profound sense of our reconciliation with God through Christ that comforts us in all the tribulation of this life.

• Longsuffering or patience, that humble endurance of others’ misbehavior, done from a purpose of their true spiritual interest, so that we might become instruments of blessing to them.

• Gentleness or kindness, the disposition and practice of showing favor to others and helping them, not because they deserve it but because it is the right thing to do.

• Goodness, that quality of resembling God, especially in generosity, which is at the heart of all spiritual and moral integrity.

• Faith or faithfulness, the state of being someone in whom confidence can be placed (BDAG).

• Meekness, the quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance (BDAG). Near synonyms include gentleness, humility, courtesy, and considerateness.

• Temperance or self-control, the restraint of one’s emotions, impulses, or desires (BDAG) with a view toward fulfilling all righteousness.

ITS RELATION TO THE LAW

“Against such [fruit] there is no law.” Luther explained, “For the righteous liveth in such wise, that he hath no need of any law to admonish or to constrain him; but without constraint of the law, he willingly doth those things which the law requireth” (commentary on Galatians).

Galatians is about the true gospel (chs 1-2) contrasted with legalism (chs 3-5.12) and licentiousness (chs 5.13-6.18). Legalism makes our law-keeping a meritorious ground for a righteous standing with God. Licentiousness dispenses with law-keeping altogether in the name of grace. The law-gospel relation in Scripture rejects both schemes. Justification is by grace alone through faith alone, and yet the faith by which we are justified is a fruitful faith in good works, producing free, willing obedience to God’s moral law. These truths correct our mistaken notions and elevate us far above the knowledge of philosophers without Scripture. Ω