What is the Fruit of the Spirit

The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Fruit is the delectable product of that which is created by the inner life of the vine. On the eve of the crucifixion, the Lord put it this way, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of it's self, unless it abides in the vine, neither you can, unless you abide in me." (John:15-4)

Earlier on a Galilean hillside, He had said, "By their fruits you will know them." (Matthew 7:20)

The fruit we bear as believers is evidence of His abiding on the throne of our lives.

At first glance, there appears to be a grammatical error in this verse. Note carefully: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace..." The truth is that the fruit of the spirit is love...Love, period. The nine fruits listed here are a cluster describing the evidence of the life of Christ within us. The fruit is singular here because it is the outcropping of one's life within. The fruit represents what we ARE rather than what we DO. Here we are reintroduced to the principle of BEING before DOING. What we do is determined by whom we really are.

The fruit described in Galatians is a triad: three clusters with three fruit each. They are reflected in a countenance, that is obvious, conduct that is orderly, and a character that is obedient.

A Countenance That is Obvious: Love, Joy, Peace.

Certain individuals seem to have a countenance of love, joy and peace. The word translated "love" here is Agape, God's own love. Agape is the highest level of love, the kind that always seeks the other's highest good. It is the same word we found back in the John 3:16 statement that "God so loved the world." It is no coincidence that Love is first on the list of the nine pieces of fruit here. It is the foundation of all the others.