A Pause to Ponder God's Word
"Fruit or Fruits"

Do you struggle with tenses? I do. It isn't noticed as much in conversation, but in writing it is blatantly obvious. I will be writing along and right in the middle of a paragraph I switch from one tense to another, or use the wrong verb. It is important to match the verb with the noun. There is a big difference between "I am" and "I are."

In reading through the epistle of Galatians we make get the impression that the Apostle Paul had this problem. In 5:22 he writes, "But the fruit of the Spirit is...." and then proceeds to list nine things. He seems to be mixing singular and plural here and it keeps Bible scholars musing. Was it simply a mistake. The textual evidence doesn't support that nor does Paul's meticulous grammatical practice evidenced in his other writings. The punctuation doesn't help, because New Testament Greek doesn't have punctuation. So how do we explain this conundrum? Is there one fruit of the Spirit or nine fruits of the Spirit? And is it that important?

There are two possible explanations. Some scholars believe that the nine things form an "indivisible cluster" and therefore can be understood as singular. As nice as this sounds, Scriptural support does not corroborate it. Granted, these nine attributes, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, are interdependent, but they are not indivisible from each other. Yet, close examination does reveal that the first thing in the list is a common connector of them all. This brings us to the other, more likely explanation, the fruit of the Spirit is love, divine love.

There are other biblical passages that support this explanation including: 1 Peter 4:8-10; Romans 12:9,10; 13:8-10; 1 Corinthians 12:31; 13; 14:1. This explanation is also consistent with the call to holiness, whose very essence is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus also said, "By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35) In Matthew 7 Jesus notes that it is by our fruit that we are "recognized" as His disciples. Fruit in passage speaks to more than love, but in light of Galatians 5:22 and the other passages noted above, love is the key component.

One has put it marvelously stating that joy is love singing, peace is love resting, patience is love enduring, kindness is love sharing, goodness is love's character, faithfulness is love's habit, gentleness is love's touch, and self-control is love in charge.

John tells us in his first epistle that "if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete [perfect] in us." (4:12) The fruit of the Spirit is love, enabling us to love one another as Christ loved us. As we love His love is made completed, or perfected in us. Prefect love has a perfecting work in us. As love is perfected joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control mature and become more and more evident in our daily living, revealing to all that we are Christ's disciples.

As Scripture attests, Love "is the most excellent way." (1 Corinthians 12:31b) It is the way of Christ and His followers. He gives us His Spirit, Whose fruit is Love which enables us to love Him with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves, revealing to all who we are. Therefore, beloved, let us by faith consecrate ourselves to God that He may fill us with His Spirit and perfect His love in us so that we will bear His fruit.

Keep Close to Jesus
Pastor Gerry


A Pause To Ponder God's Word is written and distributed by Gerald Whetstone, Ordained Elder and teacher in the Church of the Nazarene. These devotionals may be transmitted, duplicated, used in part or in entirety without permission for nonprofit purposes only. Responses welcome. To Subscribe Click Here.
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