Fruit of the Spirit | Understanding Galatians 5:22-26

Topic: Fruit of the Spirit

Reading: Galatians 5:22-26

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another.

Introduction and Overview

The fruit of the Spirit is not as easy a concept to understand as many Christians may think. I have heard some who are quite young in Christ, think the fruit of the Spirit just happens. They seem to think that upon coming to Christ, the fruit just develops straight away.

But if we consider that the Bible uses analogy and parables to teach, then it becomes quite different. The Bible takes common ideas and concepts, and applies them to spiritual teachings to help us understand. The fruit of the Spirit is no exception.

When we think about fruit, too often today we just go to a supermarket, and there it is. It is possibly for this reason that some think the fruit will just “be there” when we come to Christ.

But fruit does not just appear. It takes time to grow on trees or plants and can take quite a long time to come to maturity. The trees that produce fruit need to be planted in prepared ground, cared for, nurtured, watered, fed with nutrients, pruned, and so on before they can grow fruit. The fruit itself appears as flowers that need pollination before they can grow into maturity. And pollination requires external input from bees, or birds, or other insects and creatures.

And it is the same for those seeking the fruit of the Spirit. Christians come to Christ and then need to have their spiritual “ground” prepared. They need to be taught the truth, be baptised, receive the Holy Spirit, and learn how to walk in the Spirit before any of the spiritual fruit appears. And recall that in the scriptures preceding this block, it talks about the need to learn how to walk in the Spirit. Until a Christian learns to do that, there is little or no chance of growing the fruit of the Spirit.

Consider just the first of the spiritual fruit: Love. Anyone can be loving at times, but there are also many times they may not be loving, or show the love of God towards others. Just because they may show love sometimes does not mean it is the fruit of the Spirit. The true spiritual fruit when we are walking in the Spirit is evident ALL of the time. As it matures it is who we are, who we become, and when we are transformed into the image of Christ, the spiritual fruit will be there ALL of the time.

Needless to say, there is much to learn about this. So, this will be an introduction to the fruit of the Spirit.

Key points from reading:

• There is no law against or condemning the fruit of the Spirit
• Those who grow the fruit of the Spirit have put to death the deeds, passions, and desires of the flesh.
• If we are to live by the Spirit, then we must walk by the Spirit, and then the fruit of the Spirit will guide us in Jesus Christ.

Discussion:

1. Scripture: Galatians 5:22-23 – The fruit of the Spirit
   • Here we see a listing of the nine fruits of the Spirit. They are all connected and they all work together. When they are working together, then they all support one another.
   • Love is the first fruit of the Spirit, and it is the most important. Almost all of the others are expressions of love in one way or another. Love is important because love is the nature of God. We are being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God the Father, and God is love.
   • The last of the nine fruit of the Spirit is also interesting. It is “self-control.” This is interesting because, although we need to learn to be led by the Spirit and guided by the Spirit, we are not being controlled by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not take us over to control us or subject us to His will.
   • As we learn and grow in Christ, and as we walk in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit gives the control of our flesh back to us. He gives us the power to overcome the flesh. Initially, the power of the Spirit overcomes the passions, lusts, and desires of the flesh for us and in us. But the aim of God is for us to be in control of ourselves. His desire is that we reach a level of maturity in Jesus Christ where we are in control.
   • He gives us the victory over the flesh, but as we grow we reach a place of self-control so we decide what we will and will not do. When we are tempted, initially we may fail and fall down. But in time, we learn to recognise temptations and gain the strength to resist them. We learn to be in control of ourselves through the working of the Holy Spirit.
2. Scripture: Galatians 5:24 – Destruction of our Passions
   • There is an important message in this verse. It tells us that those who belong to Christ have destroyed the passions, lusts, and desires of the flesh. Note that this is written in the past tense. They “have” destroyed those passions.
   • The destruction of the passions of human nature is important. Human nature is weak and it is beset with sinful passions that lead people astray. If we are to belong to Christ, and if we are to live with Him and with the Father into eternity, then the passions must go.
   • But we can’t do that ourselves. Certainly there are some particularly strong-willed people who can overcome some parts of their nature, but not everything. And with Christ, it is an all or nothing situation. If we are to belong to Christ, we need to overcome ALL of our passions, lusts and desires.
   • Now, in the verses just prior to these we see the importance of learning to walk by the Spirit. It is by learning this that we can put to death our evil passions, lusts, and desires. And to walk in the Spirit there are a number of steps that precede that process and enable it to happen. We must be baptised, and understand that baptism is our death and resurrection with and in Jesus Christ. We must receive the gift of the Holy Spirit from God, including the associated manifestation of the Spirit. We must learn to pray in the Spirit at all times. We must learn how to draw close to God, especially in our times of weakness.
   • All of these are necessary parts of the process to being able to put to death the flesh with it’s passions and desires.
3. Scripture: Galatians 5:25 – Walk by the Spirit to Grow the Fruit of the Spirit
   • Again we see in these words the importance of, and the need to, walk by the Spirit. I wrote quite a detailed discussion about this in my last couple of posts. But if you want to know more, you can grab a copy of my free eBook “The Six Foundations of Christianity.” This eBook is free and it covers not only the information on walking by the Spirit, but all of the precursor steps mentioned above, and much, much, more.
   • When we walk by the Spirit and it becomes a habit for us, we will grow and mature in Christ. And when that occurs, the fruit of the Spirit will become evident in our lives as our nature changes into the image of the God of love.
4. Scripture: Galatians 5:26 – An attitude change
   • In this last verse we see the call for a change in attitude. Those who walk by the Spirit will learn to live in this way naturally. They will mature to the point that these attitudes become the norm. They learn to look at all people and situation, not from a human perspective, driven by passion and desires, but from a spiritual perspective driven by the love of God.
   • The attitudes noted in this verse, self-conceit, provoking of one another, envy of one another, do not belong in the love of God. These are attitudes and actions of the flesh. They are driven by human desire and passion. They belong among the list of evil desires mentioned in Galatians 5:19-21 where many evil desires were listed. Those who do such things, including the ones mentioned in verse 26, will not inherit the kingdom of God.
   • But those who mature and grow the fruit of the Spirit in their own lives should not show any of these attitudes. When they walk by the Spirit, they grow the fruit of the Spirit, and these poor attitudes do not belong with the spiritual fruit.
   • When all is said and done, we seek to please God in how we think, speak, and behave. As we grow in Christ, and learn to walk by the Spirit, we will be transformed into the image of the Lord God. And when that takes place, we will bear the fruit of the Spirit.

Prayer Points:

• Pray and ask the Lord to understand that the fruit of the Spirit takes time. Ask Him to show you how to prepare your “spiritual ground” to be able to grow the fruit of the Spirit.
• Pray to God and seek the power of the Holy Spirit to help you to overcome the passions, lusts and desires of the flesh so you can stand in the presence of God.
• Pray and ask God to show you how to find your way into the kindom of God and to become an heir of the kingdom with Jesus Christ and His saints.