By Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel

Gal 5:22-24 “But the spiritual nature produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There are no laws against things like that. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their corrupt nature along with its passions and desires.” GWT(God’s word Translation)

The doctrine of the fruit of the Spirit is one of the most misunderstood doctrines in Christendom. One school of thought believe that the fruit of the spirit can be achieved by the holy works of men. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Our human effort and strive cannot produce the fruit of the Spirit.  This is what the Bible says about that position.  

Gal 3:1-5 “You foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross! 2 Tell me this one thing: did you receive God’s Spirit by doing what the Law requires or by hearing the gospel and believing it? 3 How can you be so foolish! You began by God’s Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power? 4 Did all your experience mean nothing at all? Surely it meant something! 5 Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do what the Law requires or because you hear the gospel and believe it?”

 We can immediately see that the fruit of the Spirit does not mean the works of human effort! It is not the works of men but the fruit of the Spirit. Also, we can see that it is impossible without faith in Christ. Paul wrote that it is not by human effort. He said it is by way of faith which activates all the works of God and His power on our behalf to bring all of it into reality.

WHAT THEN DOES THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT MEAN?

Our main text (Galatians 5: 22-24) describes the fruit of the Spirit as the result of the new life of Christ in us. It is the manifestation of the new nature we received when we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior. It can also be defined as evidence of the power of Christ in us. This life we received is rooted in Christ, the source of all life. It flows from Christ in us and shows as the fruit of the new life of Christ we now have.

Jesus illustrated this in John 15:5 “ I  am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

Jesus said, “I AM THE VINE…YOU ARE THE BRANCHES” The branch is the fruit-carrying part of the tree. So, we believers are the fruit-carrying part of this tree as illustrated by our Lord. If we abide in Him or live in Him and He lives in us then we can bear this fruit in abundance. He never said anything about our human effort. Just two conditions are required. Abide in Him and He in us!!!

SO, WHAT THEN DOES IT MEAN TO ABIDE IN HIM AND HIM IN US?

Here is another scripture that explains what it means to abide in Christ and Him in us.

Rom 11:17-20 “But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree. 18 But you must not brag about being grafted in to replace the branches that were broken off. You are just a branch, not the root.19 “Well,” you may say, “those branches were broken off to make room for me.” 20 Yes, but remember—those branches were broken off because they didn’t believe in Christ, and you are there because you do believe. So don’t think highly of yourself, but fear what could happen.”

 When We came to Christ we were grafted into Him by faith only. We were joined together with Him as one Spirit. We in Him and He in us.  

1 Cor 6:17 “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”

Grafting changes the nature of the fruit the grafted branch bears. If the tree produces sweet fruit, the grafted branch will also start to produce sweet fruit. We were grafted into the holy life of Christ and immediately began to produce the same life as Christ. This branch does not have to work itself out to produce sweet fruit, it just simply does by remaining attached. We remain attached by faith in Christ. The Scripture we reviewed previously (Romans 11: 17-20) says that some of the Jews were broken off because they failed to believe in Christ. So as long as we believe in Christ, we are grafted in. We produce the righteous life by being grafted into Him so we the bitter branch can now produce sweet fruits. So, we who were sinful by nature can now produce a new life through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is another Scripture that throws even more light on how we cannot produce this fruit by obeying the laws but simply by faith in Christ Jesus.

Rom 7:4-6 “So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. 5 When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.”

 Before we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, all we produced were sinful deeds! This is because we had a sinful nature. So, all we did was simply act according to our nature- which produced sin, disobedience and produce sinful deeds.

Eph 2:3 “All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.”

Romans 7:5 “When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.”

If we are honest with ourselves,  the above verses describe our reality before we came to Christ. We were condemned by the law that pronounced death for sin. We were under its power and authority. The Bible says that “the soul that sinneth shall die” This was our fate, we were condemned to death. But then The Lord came and presented a new way out. He gave us a new NATURE. He gave us His life and also died in our place to pay the penalty for all our sins.

 John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

 Christ also cut away the old sinful nature that made us produce sinful deeds. We were buried with Christ and rose with a new life in Him. Praise the Lord! This simply means that when we came to Him he gave us a new life. His own life by coming into our lives.

Col 2:11-12 “When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 12 For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.”

 2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

 In summary, to produce the fruit of the Spirit, we must first accept Christ as our Lord and personal savior. Then we will be grafted into Him, united with Him, and become one Spirit with Him. As a result, we produce a harvest of good deeds and manifest the fruit of the Spirit. This fruit is then tangible for people around us to see.

Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel is the Senior Pastor of  Fountain of  The Living Word Church, New Jersey.