‘As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches.’  

(John 15:4-5a)

Jesus uses the final hours before his arrest leading to the sham trial and crucifixion, to prepare his disciples for their task.  It will fall to them to cultivate the Gospel, so it may be fruitful.  The word translated ‘fruit’ is καρπὸς karpos is the produce of the mature plant and the means by which it is propagated.

And in order the Gospel is seen to be authentic the disciples acquire another ‘new’ commandment:

^‘A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’  (Ibid 13:34-35)

Jesus tells the disciples the source of their vigour once he leaves them, how they will still be connected to him.

‘… it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.’ (Ibid 16:7)

Jesus has already identified this Helper as ‘the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from the Father’ (ibid 15:26), in other words, the Holy Spirit. If loving relationships were to be the hallmark of the church, either the Holy Spirit was deficient or followers of Christ were disobedient to his New Commandment, wherefore the ‘fruit’ was lacking?

The fellowship of faith would be challenged as the early church was riven with discord.  We see an example in the earliest letter of Paul. The corrective epistle was addressed to the communities in the cities where he seeded the gospel, including Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe on the Anatolian plateau. Situated (mostly) in the Roman province of Galatia, the apostle is horrified that they were in the process of tearing themselves apart over the issue of circumcision.

He reminds them that the gospel he brought them is not dependent on the flesh or its mutualisation:

For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Far from obeying Jesus’ new commandment and abiding in him, their ‘fruit’ was a ‘work of the flesh’:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. (Ibid 5:19-20)

The worldliness of the Galatian fellowships was betrayed by dissension and division, doubtless characterised by fits of anger all based on the rivalry between Jew and Gentile over who was God’s true heirs.

Paul would have them ‘walk by the Spirit’ and put aside the desires of the flesh so their fruit would be that which comes by abiding in Jesus, enabled by the Holy Spirit:

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

There has been much written about this short passage, but one thing that must be noted is that the attributes are not emotions or some higher ethical mode by which people are ‘magically’ transformed.  Clearly if anyone displays ‘self-control’ it is a deliberate act; this is a decision, an exercise of the will to be different, to adjust and amend behaviour.  And in fact, when all the nouns are examined in turn, each demand that same volition; moreover, they all constituent aspects of loving as Jesus loved – Paul’s appeal is to the community of believers, which as we see in John 15-16, is Jesus’ context, after all:

• Love – ἀγάπη agapē is the decision to follow the ‘new commandment’ of Jesus, to love each other as he loves them.

• Joy – χαρά chara is the decision to rejoice in every circumstance – if charis is grace and char is to extend favour, then this means accepting and displaying grace.  When James wrote (1:2-4) ‘count is all joy (chara), my brothers when you meet trials’, he is speaking about making a decision. 

• Peace – εἰρήνη eirēnē the decision to be at peace with God and others – eiro ‘to join into a unified whole’ – this is the opposite to dissension and factionalism

• Patience – μακροθυμίᾳ makrothymia from macro ‘long’ and thymos ‘passion’ literally longsuffering, embracing steadfastness. This is the essence of forgiveness where the disciple lays aside any grievance.

• Kindness – χρηστότης chrēstotēs from chrestos ‘useful’ or ‘serviceable’, kindness is meeting needs of others in a useful manner.  In other words, this is engaging in ministry or service towards others.

• Goodness – ἀγαθωσύνη agathōsynē from agathos ‘inherent good’; this is to do good, to display moral excellence or virtue.

• Faithfulness – πίστις pistis faith is gift from God, but it also to maintain confidence in Him.  This is a decision to trust God.

• Gentleness – πραΰτης prautēs this is meekness (Matthew 5:5) and is the decision to yield to God’s will.  To be pliant because strength God gives by His Spirit.

• Self-control – ἐγκράτεια enkrateia from en ‘in the sphere of’ and kratos ‘dominion or mastery’, what proceeds from within oneself empowered and enabled by God’s indwelling Spirit.

By abiding in Jesus, through the Spirit he sent, a man or woman can overcome their innate self and decide to act differently.  Thus both the decision and the changed behaviour are the product of the Holy Spirit.  

For the Galatians, Paul would have them put aside their poor conduct in indulging in factionalism and demonstrate and act peaceably, even if this was against their human nature.  This then includes, for example, acting differently towards any opponent – as Jesus requires of his disciples:

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matthew 5:44)

This does not say require that any ‘like’ anyone, let alone fall into line with them; nor would Jesus expect any wait for an apology; he would have the disciples love any that oppose or disparage them despite one’s innate emotions. Once more this is an act of the will, that puts aside feelings or standpoints; indeed, it is sacrificial through intent and deed.

So, the Fruit of the Spirit is in fact the seed of change and a work of conviction that comes by that Spirit, but crucially, the prompt is nothing without choosing to act upon it.  Inevitably, there will be internal conflict; but this is not hypocrisy. By referring to himself as the ‘chief of sinners’ (1 Timothy 1:15) Paul demonstrates that it would be hypocrisy to deny he is anything but a work in progress.  Likewise, the integrity of the authentic disciple will be evidenced as he bemoans his impiety, whilst earnestly seeking to obey Jesus’ commandments to love.

This is inner conflict between the desire of the flesh and decision to act in the Spirit is unflinchingly described by Paul: 

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. (Romans 7:18-20)

The fruit that is borne by the branches, the disciples of the True Vine, Christ, is then evidenced by acts of love, which is the labour of sanctification, that ‘work in progress’, not the end product.  It means engaging in internal warfare:

 So, I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being,but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  (Ibid 7:21-23)

And Paul is clear that he can only be aware his moral deficit by revelation. 

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.  (Ibid 7:25)

Paul ends his entreaty to the Galatian churches in this way:

If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.  (Galatian 5:25-26)

Thus, the Fruit of the Spirit is both the means and ways for disciples to love each other as Jesus loves them. Hence the beneficiary is the fellowship; the fruit is for others over individual, although all are blessed by it – including the unbelieving world, who see witnesses of the Gospel of Love that are authentic and extraordinary. The church will be propagated by such fruit.