What Are the Fruit of the Spirit and Why Does it Matter?

Posted on August 8th

If you’re a student of God’s Word, you have mostly come across the phrase, “The Fruit of the Spirit”.  But you probably have a lot of questions such as:

• What are the Fruits of the Spirit?
• How do you develop the Fruits of the Spirit?
• What are some practical examples of the Fruit of the Spirit?

“Fruit of the Spirit” is a term found in the Book of Galatians, which is where the Apostle Paul is talking to the Churches in Galatia, who have been led astray from the Gospel of Christ and reverted back to the Law of Moses.

As Paul explains that we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ, he brings in the Fruit of the Spirit which is how we are to live as redeemed Children of God.

How will people learn God’s will?  Jesus fulfilled God’s law on our behalf.  And He lives in us through God’s Holy Spirit.  When we live by Jesus’ Fruits of the Spirit, we become people of love, which fulfills God’s commandment to love others as ourselves.

What Are the Fruits of the Spirit

We hear the phrase often, but what exactly does “fruit of the spirit” mean?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 NIV

To walk in the Spirit means that the Holy Spirit lives in you. You are putting your life in the continual presence in the Spirit of God.  You are abiding with Jesus like a vine abides with a tree.  Take a look at John 15:5 where Jesus explains the relationship between the vine and its branches.  In the same way, we abide by the Holy Spirit.

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 NKJV

Living in the fruit of the spirit means You are aware of the influence of the Holy Spirit.  As a child of God, you’ll want to shape your life around the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Someone who walks in the Spirit patterns his or her life after Jesus Christ. It is a way of faith.

The opposite of walking in the fruit of the spirit is following the fleshly desires that are second nature to us as human beings.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21

But it’s not natural for humankind to live by faith and live a life without sin.  It takes effort, but it’s doable and we’ll get to that in a bit.  Keep reading.  First, let’s dig into the Fruit of the Spirit.

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