On this blog for the next months, we will be looking specifically at the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23. Some of the material will come from the WMF’s 1983 Bible study written by Carol Dietsche. We will take a month for each of the fruit that are listed here.
The verses we will be centering on are found in Galatians 5:22-23. These verses list the fruit, and notice it is not “fruits,” but fruit—one well-rounded cluster of nine graces—that Christians are to bear. Let us name them together: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Before we begin our study about the fruit of the Spirit, however, we must realize there can be no fruit unless Christ is our Savior. God does not force anything upon us. He offers all that we need for life and salvation in His Son, the Savior of the world. The sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ, took upon Himself all the terrible sins of mankind and shed His blood on a cruel cross to reconcile the holy God with sinful men. God’s holy Word makes it clear that anyone who does not believe him is “dead in sins” (Ephesians 2:5). Read Romans 5:8-11. It is so wonderful we don’t have to be “dead in sins” but that we can be “quickened”—made alive—and have all our sins forgiven if we believe that Christ died to save us and ask Him to be our Savior! Read Romans 7:4. It is up to each one of us to decide whether we shall “abide” in the vine and be living, fruitful branches, or be deadwood—dead in trespasses and sins.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NASB)