Thoughts on the Fruit of the Spirit, Part 1

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23

(I’m using the NASB for the Bible verses in today’s post.)

What is the fruit of the Spirit? For a long time, I’ve held it to be the personality of Jesus Christ. This is no deep revelation or magical insight; look at the list–Jesus is loving and peaceful and kind and so on. Every characteristic Paul mentions describes Him. It’s easy to conclude that the fruit of the Spirit displays who Jesus is.

But the apostle refers to the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of Christ. Could we say, then, that the fruit is the personality of the Holy Spirit? After all, He’s loving and peaceful and kind and all the rest, right? Yes!

Of course, we don’t have to choose between the two. Paul’s list expresses the traits of both Christ and the Spirit. And a breakdown of Galatians 5 bears this out.

Galatians 5 has 26 verses. I isolated those which talk about God, and here’s what I found.

• Two references to the God the Father (vss. 8 and 21)
• Six references to Jesus (vss. 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, and 24)
• Eight references to the Holy Spirit (vss. 5, 16, twice in 17, 18, 22, and twice in 25)

This chapter has almost as many verses about Jesus as it does about the Spirit. And this shouldn’t surprise us because it makes sense in light of Paul’s purpose. He wrote the letter to help the Galatian Christians grow in Christ the same way they received Him–by the Spirit, not by their own efforts.

“You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? ²This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? ³Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” – Galatians 3:1-3

The Christian life, founded on the gospel of Jesus, starts when we respond to the drawing of the Spirit. And the way never changes; the Spirit who begins our walk with Jesus also maintains it. We know Jesus and we grow in Jesus because of the Holy Spirit. Without Him, we’re left with nothing more than religious mimicry of the example of Christ. And if we’ve ever tried to imitate Jesus in our own strength, we know it’s hopeless! To meet Christ, we need the Spirit. And to grow in Christ, we still need the Spirit. We never outgrow our dependence on Him. In fact, relying on the Spirit is what it means to be a Christian.

Paul adopts a similar tactic in 1 Corinthians 2. In that chapter, he discusses his gospel ministry and the role of the Holy Spirit in such work. This chapter has 16 verses, and here’s a breakdown.

• 14 references to God the Father (vss. 1, 5, twice in 7, 9, twice in 10, twice in 11, twice in 12, 14, twice in 16)
• Four references to Christ (twice in vs. 2, vss. 8 and 16)
• Seven references to the Spirit (vss. 4, twice in 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14)

Although 1 Corinthians 2 focuses on God’s work through His Spirit, Paul ends the chapter by mentioning “the mind of Christ.” We could claim that in this context, the Holy Spirit is the mind of Christ, and that wouldn’t be a stretch. 

Elsewhere the Bible integrates Jesus and the Spirit.

“After they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.” – Acts 16:7

“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” – Romans 8:9

“For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 1:9

“As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, ¹¹seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.” – 1 Peter 1:10-11

So let’s revisit our question: What is the fruit of the Spirit? In Galatians 5, the phrase describes the characteristics of the Holy Spirit demonstrated by followers of Jesus Christ. The more we obey and submit to the Spirit, the more He will make us like Christ. And the more we resemble Jesus, the better we’ll treat others. Our personality becomes positive in the best sense of the word, because we’re like our Lord. And that’s a great blessing!