with Bob Condly
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personality

Thoughts on the Fruit of the Spirit, Part 1

By Bob Condly
January 8, 2021
1 Comment
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“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.

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.

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!

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The Meaning of Spiritual Fruit

By Bob Condly
October 18, 2019

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

When we read the Bible, we don’t use only our reasoning; we also apply our imagination. Even a passage as simple as the one above lends itself to both faculties.

We can follow the apostle Paul’s logic without much difficulty. The Holy Spirit is the source of positive traits and behaviors in our lives. As we take on these characteristics, we improve who we are and how we treat others. No set of rules can hinder what the Spirit produces in us.

That’s a rational explanation of the meaning of those verses. But what about the artistic dimension? When I consider that aspect, I start contemplating “fruit” as, well, edible stuff. You know–apples, peaches, bananas. This picture doesn’t seem helpful for my spiritual life, but a bit of reflection reveals an insight.

Fruit resembles a sack lunch. God designed most fruit with seeds in the middle. (Others, like strawberries, have seeds on the outside.) If a seed gets planted in the right conditions, it will sprout another plant from which it grew. 

But conditions aren’t always right. So God compensated by surrounding the seed with all the nutrients and energy (read, “sugar”) it needs. You could say that fruit is like a meal for a seed. And, thank God, it also feeds us!

But did I misidentify what fruit is? Over the years, I’ve read a bunch of books about church, ministry, and pastoral work. One of them, Natural Church Development by Christian Schwarz, gave me a different perspective. Schwarz claims that the ultimate fruit of an apple tree is another apple tree, not an apple.

For ministry, this means that church leaders need to focus on the actual goal. It’s wonderful if First Church has a thriving small group ministry.. Nothing wrong with with lots of testimonies about people getting connected, learning, and serving. 

But according to Schwarz, the ultimate fruit of a small group is another small group. For that to happen, the members of the group would have to agree to that goal. The leaders of the group would be on the lookout for people willing to become leaders themselves. And the group would celebrate the launch of each new group.

Schwarz makes a great point about the ultimate goal of a ministry. We could say that the greatest fruit of a small group ministry is more small groups. 

But if that’s the case, the ultimate fruit of the Spirit is–what? Another Holy Spirit? That doesn’t seem right! I like what Schwarz promotes, but it doesn’t seem to apply to Galatians 5:22-23.

When we look at an orange, we tend to think about the juicy meat. To get more oranges (forget shopping for the moment!), we could plant the seeds and see what sprouts. A fruit is not a tree. The tree may be the goal of a fruit, but it is not the fruit itself.

Fruit is a potential tree.

Since God wants Christians to bear the fruit of the Spirit, He wants us to think about our potential. Jesus is the tree, the Spirit is the life of the tree, and the seeds within the fruit of our character are the gospel. Remember, we’re thinking here about potential and hope rather than immediate fulfillment.

Paul lists nine qualities of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, and so on. When we assemble these virtues, what image strikes us? I realize that the fruit of the Spirit is the personality of Jesus Christ expressed in His church. People encounter Jesus when they meet Christians filled with kindness and self-control. And the Christians themselves grow in godliness.

The goal? God wants more Christians, more followers of His Son. But to get there, He needs to develop the life of Jesus within them. That’s what the Holy Spirit does.

The fruit of the Spirit is God’s plan for the health of His people. Make sure you’re enjoying your share!

with Bob Condly

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