What are the fruits of the Spirit?

The fruit of the Spirit is the list of nine qualities in Galatians 5:22-23 that Paul says the Holy Spirit produces in a person's life. In the King James Version they are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance; modern translations render them love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Paul calls them fruit, in the singular — one harvest with nine aspects, grown rather than achieved.

The nine, in the KJV and in today's English

The King James wording is four centuries old and several of its terms have shifted. Longsuffering is patience — literally being long-tempered, slow to give up on people. Gentleness in the KJV is what is now usually translated kindness. Faith here is usually understood as faithfulness — reliability more than belief — which is how modern translations render it. Meekness is gentleness: strength that does not need to assert itself. Temperance is self-control. Love, joy, peace and goodness read as they did. Love comes first, and many readers take the other eight as descriptions of what love looks like in practice.

Fruit, not works

The contrast in the passage is deliberate. Verses 19-21 list the works of the flesh, in the plural — things people do. Verse 22 turns to the fruit of the Spirit, in the singular — something that grows. Works are produced by effort; fruit is produced by a healthy tree. That changes how the list should be used. It is not a set of nine targets to hit by trying harder, and it is not a personality test in which some people get patience and others get joy. It describes one character, forming gradually, in anyone who walks in the Spirit.

How it grows

Paul's instruction is in verses 16 and 25: walk in the Spirit. Walking is ordinary, repeated and slow, which is how fruit ripens. Jesus uses the same picture in John 15:4-5 — I am the vine, ye are the branches; the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine. The effort involved is the effort of staying attached: prayer, Scripture, the company of other believers, honesty about failure. Galatians 5:23 ends with a dry aside — against such there is no law. No rule has ever needed to be written against too much kindness.

Passages referenced

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³ Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. ²⁴ And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-25 (KJV) →
¹⁶ This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Galatians 5:16 (KJV) →
⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 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.
John 15:4-5 (KJV) →

Written by the Esther team. Scripture quoted from the King James Version, which is in the public domain.