A Richer Walk

Galatians 5:22–23 (KJV 1900)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

What is the Fruit of the Spirit?

Those believers who persist in abiding in Christ have his character manifested within them.

Galatians 4:19 (KJV 1900)
19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

John 14:23 (KJV 1900)
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

The fruit of the Spirit creates the character of Christ in the soul of the believer. This transformation heals and energizes the soul but also exerts tremendous influence upon the world. The fruit of the Spirit provides wisdom but also power, qualifying the believer for world changing impact upon his generation and beyond.

The Fruit of the Spirit and the Transformation of the Soul

The fruit of the Spirit have a powerful transforming effect upon the will and the affections, strengthening the volition and purifying the emotions. The fruit of the Spirit are inwardly focused as much as they are outwardly. They produce genuine mental health and the basis for effective spiritual function.

The appearance of this fruit is the key to consistent victory over the sin nature. This is because the fruit of the Spirit initiates the repair of a lifetime of damage done to the soul by the old nature. It is also because the development of the character of Christ in the believer includes wisdom as the necessary product of the nine virtues.

The Fruit of the Spirit and Spiritual Wisdom

The Old Testament command to get wisdom [Pr 4.5-9] is achieved by the believer who by abiding in Christ, realizes the fruit of the Spirit. It is by the ministry of the Spirit that the believer accomplishes the spiritual objectives that the Old Testament believer could not attain by the works of the flesh.

Romans 8:3–4 (KJV 1900)
³ For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: ⁴ That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Wisdom was essential to effective living and the execution of the spiritual life under the Old Covenant. The filling of the Spirit, which is how the fruit of the Spirit is created and maintained, is also how the believer receives God’s wisdom under the spiritual dynamics of the Church age. The nine capacities provided by the Spirit to the mature believer are, in their totality, wisdom itself.

Galatians 5:22–23 (KJV 1900)
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The Fruit of the Spirit and Historical Impact

The fruit of the Spirit produces a powerful external witness. The character of Christ provides the wisdom to operate in nine spheres of power through which the believer impacts history on God’s behalf.

In our next installment of this series, we will focus upon the power inherent each of the fruits of the Spirit of God.