Galatians 5: Fruitful Living

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” -Galatians 5:22-23

The fruit of the Spirit is a well-known teaching from the Bible, yet one often misunderstood. Typically, we associate each of the nine traits with a fruit, or area, or life to grow spiritually. Yet the Greek word translated “fruit” can also be translated “result,” carrying the idea that these life changes are the result of God’s Spirit living in a believer.

Reading the passage in this manner leads to a different perspective: “But the [result] of the Spirit is love, joy…” God’s Spirit yields the results, not our human efforts. This was Paul’s teaching throughout Galatians, a letter in which he focuses on the conflict between a gospel based on faith in Jesus and the teachings of those who promoted Jewish traditions as necessary for a relationship with God.

Fruitful living is a result of God’s Spirit working through us, not our work. As we seek to live for Christ, he lives through us, producing a life that is truly fruitful.

+++

Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.