What Does The Bible Say About The Fruit Of The Spirit?
Alright, let's get this straight—when the Bible talks about the fruit of the Spirit, it's not talking about a bunch of separate virtues you gotta hustle to produce on your own. Galatians 5:22 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith…" and so on. But notice, it says "fruit," not "fruits"—it's singular! That's because the real fruit is Jesus Christ Himself living in you. Every quality listed—love, joy, peace, patience, all of it—is just Jesus showing up in your life. You can't manufacture this stuff by trying harder. You surrender to Jesus, and He produces His character in you.
Ephesians 5:9 backs this up: "(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)" That's Jesus! He is goodness, righteousness, and truth. The gospel is the good news that Jesus did it all—He's the only one who can make us righteous, and He is the truth. So when you see the fruit of the Spirit, you're seeing the gospel in action: Jesus living through you, not you trying to be a better person.
And when the Bible says, "You will know them by their fruits," it's not about tallying up your good deeds. It's about whether the gospel is coming out of your mouth and your life. If someone's always pointing to Jesus and His finished work, that's the real fruit. The gospel isn't just the starting line—it's the whole race. Jesus is the fruit, and the gospel is the proof.
