Nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit

Nine Fruit of the Holy Spirit—Gal. 5:22; John 15:5–8

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Notice that the fruit of the Spirit are mentioned as a single fruit. All of these fruits must flow in us as if they were one fruit - we don't pick and choose out of the 9 - we need them all.

D.L. Moody believed that all the fruit are an expression of the first fruit in the list - LOVE. He described the fruit of the Spirit this way:

Love
Joy is love exulting;

Peace is love reposing;

Patience is love untiring;

kindness is love enduring;

Goodness is love displaying (in action);

faith is love advancing  (on the battlefield;)

Gentleness is love abiding (under discipline;)

self-control is love in training.

This is the Holy Spirit’s fruit – He is the One who produces this fruit in us. 7 Principles of fruit:

- Fruit grows – it cannot be made, and takes time to work in our lives

- Fruit reproduces itself

- Fruit nourishes others outside itself

- Fruit must be connected to a life-source (the Vine), it cannot grow alone

- Fruit is dependant on the tree. Good fruit can only come from a good tree

- Fruit can only grow as a result death (Jn. 12:24)

- Fruit multiplies enormously from the original seed (Matt. 17:20) Anyone can count the seeds in an apple - only God can count the apples in a seed. (Robert Schuller)

Notice the “works of the flesh in Gal. 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

These works of the flesh (18?) are contrasted by the 9 fruit of the Spirit in the next verse. The 9 fruit of the Spirit are able to overcome the 18 works of the flesh – that is because the fruit comes directly from the Holy Spirit – they are an expression of God in us – God touching us at the core of our humanity.

The fruit of the Spirit are not placed in us by the Holy Spirit (as the gifts of the Spirit are) – they are a result of our walk with the Holy Spirit into a Christ-like life. This is the character of Christ in the Christian, it is the fruit if the tree of life. We are His garden – this is the fruit that grows in us (Jn. 15:1). We cannot bear fruit on our own – we must abide in Him. We cannot develop Godly character without the Holy Spirit working in our lives.

The gifts of the Spirit equip one with abilities for service in the Kingdom of God; the fruit of the Spirit reveals who one is in the Kingdom of God. Fuchsia Pickett, "Presenting the Holy Spirit" p. 147.

…and this from Croft M. Pentz: The fruit of the Holy Spirit can be expressed as three groups of three. The first fruit in each of these groups is the key to the other two:

v Inward Fruit that are experienced in our own hearts: 

Love

Joy—Love delighting

Peace—Love resting

v Outward Fruit that are revealed to others: 

Patience

Kindness—calm and compassionate expression of patience

Goodness—active expression of patience

v Upward fruit that are an expression of our relationship with God

Faith

Gentleness/meekness - gentle faith towards God

Self Control - Faith from God to live in holiness