“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” (Galatians 5:22-24 NASB1995)

What is “fruit”? Yes, it is something that we eat, which is supposed to be healthy for our bodies, such things as apples, bananas, pineapple, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, and the like. But it also has to do with what we produce morally and spiritually, the outgrowth of something planted, the results. It has to do with reaping what we sow, i.e. that our actions have consequences or results, either good or bad, i.e. which is cause and effect.

Now we learned in the previous verses that if sin is what we practice, what we will reap is not eternal life with God, but eternal death and punishment. We will not spend eternity in heaven, but in hell, even if we profess with our lips that Jesus is our Lord and Savior. For it is not lip service only by which one is saved from their sins and they have the hope of eternal life with God, but it is via death to sin and obeying God that we have life eternal with God.

For that is the meaning of faith. For faith in Jesus is not produced in the flesh. The faith in Jesus required for salvation from sin comes from God, it is gifted to us by God, and it is persuaded of God as to his righteousness and holiness, and of our sinfulness, and of our need to die with Christ to sin and to be raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as servants of God in surrender of our lives to the Lord.

Therefore, when by faith in Jesus Christ we die daily to sin, and we walk (in conduct, with purpose) daily in obedience to our Lord’s commands, by his Spirit, the fruit that we bear is not idolatry, adultery, sexual immorality, lying, and cheating, and the like. But it is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. For those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Therefore, sin should no longer be what we practice. We should no longer be living in addiction to sin. But now the fruit of the Spirit should be what we are producing. And this is not saying that we will be absolutely perfect in every respect or that we will never sin again (1 John 2:1-2), but that we should have had a change of mind and heart, resulting in a change of behavior away from living in sin to now obeying our Lord’s commands.

So, if the Spirit of God is now living within us, guiding us into all truth, and leading us in the ways of righteousness and holiness, we should no longer be those who are living as addicts to sin. But now we should be living as slaves of righteousness, bearing the fruit of the Spirit in how we live our daily lives. But we need to interpret this “fruit” according to the teachings of God’s holy word, and not according to human flesh and what we think that means.

For love prefers what God prefers, which is all that is holy, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord’s commands. And peace is with God, not with other humans who are not at peace with God, i.e. we don’t make compromises with the world to be at peace with all of humans if it means we fall short of obeying our Lord and his commands. And kindness is never lying to people to make them feel good. Kindness speaks the truth.

Goodness and faithfulness definitely have to do with living morally pure, upright, and godly lives for the glory of God, in the power of God, and us not yielding to the desires of the flesh, in practice. And gentleness is not going soft on sin and tickling itching ears, but it is sensitive to how we say things, not harshly, but in love, speaking the truth in love, with kindness. And self-control is resisting fleshly desires and living to please God, in practice.

For, “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

For Our Nation

An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Recording Via Gerry Peters, music producer and arranger

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.

The Fruit of The Spirit
An Original Work / January 16, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love