The Fruit of the Spirt Part I Galatians 5:22
22 " But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,...." In looking at this passage about the fruit of the Spirit, we first need to notice the contrast between this verse and the one after and the deeds of the flesh mentioned in verses 19-21. The deeds of the flesh are obvious and destructive and mainly self centered in nature. Yet, the fruit of the Spirit are not called acts of our own, but rather by products of the Spirits works in our lives. Paul referenced over 169 times that we are "in Christ, in him or in the Lord, in the beloved" in his writings. This means that as a believer, the Holy Spirit has come to work within us and to change us from the inside out. We don't do this by our own effort, but rather we are called in John 15:5 to abide in him because we can do nothing without him. The list of the fruit of the spirit starts with the primary fruit which is love. In 1 Corinthians 13:4 it says th