The Fruit of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-23 - LSB

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law.

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What always caught my eye is how Paul talks about these 9 fruits in the singular “fruit”, not in the plural “fruits”, whereas earlier in the chapter where he talks about the “works”, plural, of the flesh. I think Paul is suggesting here is that all of these qualities belong together. They can’t be separated.

And perhaps the reason he calls them “fruit” is because they take time to grow and they need to be nourished. These qualities can’t be artificially produced. They need to be developed in us by God’s grace.

And in the words of the Scottish theologian Sinclair Ferguson: “It’s this ninefold fruit of the Spirit, which the Spirit produces in us as we grow in our love for the Lord Jesus, as our hearts and minds and our wills submit to Scripture, as our affections are suffused with the teaching of Scripture and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Then there is a kind of spiritual natural way in which we grow to be more like Him. And at the end of the day, that’s what these fruit of the Spirit add up to: likeness to the Lord Jesus.”

So, as we begin this new week, let’s pray that the Lord will make us more like Him. Amen.