Notice that the word fruit is singular, yet there are nine things listed in Ga 5:22-23. The Spirit produces all nine of these things simultaneously and constantly. All together, they are the fruit (singular) of the Spirit. In the same way that light comes with all the different colors in the light spectrum, so the fruit of the Spirit is all these different things. Yet, for the purpose of understanding, we can separate this fruit into these nine separate elements just as the colors of light can be separated by a prism. Jesus spoke of bearing fruit in Joh 15 and declared that without me ye can do nothing (Joh 15:5). The fruit spoken of in these verses is not produced by the believer but by the Holy Spirit, as believers live in union with Him. The Todays English Version states, But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control (emphasis mine). Our part is to yield and trust; Gods part is to produce the fruit. This fruit is the product of the Holy Spirit, not our efforts. However, since he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit (1Co 6:17), then this fruit of the Spirit is also what our born-again spirits produce. Our spirits always have these attributes regardless of what we feel in our emotions. Failure to understand this has caused many of us to think we would be hypocrites to express joy when truly we are depressed. However, its only our soulish part that gets depressed. Our spirits are always bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace, etc. If we seek to walk in the Spirit (Ga 5:16), it is actually hypocritical to let our soulish emotions dominate our spiritual emotions. The truth is, our spirits are never depressed, just our souls (2Co 5:17). We who understand this have the choice of letting our souls depress us or letting the Holy Spirit, through our born-again spirits, release the joy and peace spoken of here. This same principle applies to every different characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit listed here. Notice that faith is a fruit of the Spirit. This fruit is constantly being produced. It doesnt come and go, as most of us think it does. Our use of faith is spasmodic. Our perception of whether or not we have faith may fluctuate, but the truth is this fruit of faith is constantly in our spirits. We just have to draw it out, not go get it (Lu 17:5)!!!!!!! O:)
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 11:13:13 +0000
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