KJV Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance …”
NASB Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control …”
As we read through the New Testament, we come to the unmistakable conclusion that God’s ultimate desire and goal is to make us more like His Son. To that end, the entire Godhead has become involved and active.
We come to 2 Peter 1 and find that God has invested deeply in us. He has given us three things so we might become partakers of a divine nature. He has begotten us, and as a result of this birth, we now have a new life. Second, He has blessed us with all things that pertain to life and godliness. We need nothing outside of God’s rich provision. Finally, we have been given exceeding great and precious promises (2 Peter 1:1-4). Our responsibility in light of this is to diligently appropriate these for our spiritual maturity.
Our Saviour’s interest in our growth is evident in John Chapter 15. The life of the Vine can be reproduced in me if I simply learn to abide in Christ. He is the life; His is the power. I merely abide in Him by allowing His Word to abide in me. The fruit of that abiding is the life of the Vine reproduced in me. I become like Christ by abiding in Him.
But it is Galatians 5 to which our attention now turns. Here, we have the indwelling Spirit and His work reproducing Christ in my life. As I look at the nine-fold fruit that He wishes to develop, I am actually looking at a portrait of the Lord Jesus.
Who can challenge the fact that love was manifest in its fullness in Him? Joy? In the shadow of Calvary, He spoke of His joy (John 15:11). Peace is an interesting word. It may well be the only word, other than conjunctions and prepositions, that is found in every New Testament book. The Lord was the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Peace. He brought the true “Shalom” to all who would receive it. He brought peace, not only in the sense of freedom from stress, worry, and fear but in the sense of the fullness of divine blessings for humanity.
We need only consider His patience with His disciples to see longsuffering displayed. On each occasion, when He spoke to them of His coming death, burial, and resurrection, they argued or vied for preeminence. In His hour of greatest need, they forsook Him and fled. Peter, the “first among equals,” denied Him, yet the Lord’s look triggered remorse, repentance, and eventual restoration (Luke 22:61).
His gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control, and faith were a veritable feast for the Father’s heart as He viewed His Son in all the fullness of that nine-fold fruit in all its richness, day by day and moment by moment. He is the “summation of all that is lovely” (Song of Songs 5:16 translation mine).
Consider
Take any one of the ninefold fruit of the Spirit and look for it in the life of Christ, and then ask the Father to reproduce that quality in you. Since they are all the fruit of the Spirit, you cannot get one without all the others!