Austin Bible Church
The fruit of the Spirit is the character of Christ being formed in the believer while being filled with the Holy Spirit. Types of production of the fruit of the Spirit are toward self, toward other people, and toward God. Gal. 5:22-23.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23, NASB)
The fruit of the Spirit toward self includes love, joy, and peace. Love is a mental attitude or what you think and is the mental attitude which describes the divine attitude of love. A relaxed mental attitude toward the human race is free from envy, jealousy, hatred, implacability, etc. 1 Cor. 13:4-7.
“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NASB)
Joy is the stimulated mental attitude of inner happiness that comes from knowing Bible doctrine. Peace is mental attitude stability. First is the peace with God through reconciliation. Second is the peace of God from the filling of the Holy Spirit. Rom. 5:1.
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Romans 5:1, NASB)
The fruit of the Spirit toward other people includes patience, kindness, and goodness. Patience is a relaxed overt attitude toward the human race as a result of having love, joy, and inner peace. This is faith-rest under pressure from people and circumstances while filled with the Holy Spirit. Eph. 4:1-3.
“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3, NASB)
Kindness is a mental attitude of grace toward others and giving others the benefit of the doubt. In 2 Timothy 2:24, “must not be quarrelsome” means that bullying others is wrong. We are to have good manners.
“The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,” (2 Timothy 2:24, NASB)
Goodness is the overt expression of grace. If you think kindness, you will act with goodness. Eph. 4:32; 1 Thess. 5:15; Col. 3:13.
“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:32, NASB)
“See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.” (1 Thessalonians 5:15, NASB)
“bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.” (Colossians 3:13, NASB)
The fruit of the Spirit toward God includes faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The fruit of the Spirit is using faith as the sole means of learning Bible doctrine thereby enabling the Holy Spirit to transfer spiritually understood information to the left lobe of the soul as gnosis knowledge. Faith or believe in the understood Bible doctrine enables the Holy Spirit to convert the gnosis to epignosis or full knowledge and transfer it to the right lobe of the soul. This is now divine wisdom applicable to life’s situations and problems. Faith is not operating on rationalism and empiricism.
Gentleness is humility and is the mental attitude of grace with regard to divine provision. This is an attitude of grace orientation - not who and what we are, but who and what He is. We receive humility as we grow in Bible doctrine. Self-control is self-discipline. This is controlling your tongue, thoughts, and actions. When it is time to study, you do it. 1 Cor. 9:27.
“but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27, NASB)
When you are in fellowship (filled with the Holy Spirit), you do not necessarily manifest all of the fruit of the Spirit, but various situations bring out various manifestations.