FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
The fruit is singular, not plural.
The most common teaching is that there are nine fruits of the Spirit. But that’s not the case. It’s one “fruit,” and that fruit has those characteristics.
For instance, take an apple. It’s one apple, but it has many characteristics: red, tasty, juicy, crunchy, nutritious, thin-skinned (which could actually describe a lot of Christians…), etc.
In the same way, the fruit of the Spirit is one fruit with these nine characteristics.
So what? What’s so big about the fruit being singular and not plural? Everyone is expected to display all of the fruit in their lives!
The Bible is very clear that the gifts of the Spirit are parceled out as He sees fit, and that not every person will get every gift. The fruit, on the other hand, is for EVERYONE. Everyone is supposed to be loving, everyone is supposed to be kind, everyone is supposed to be patient, everyone is supposed to have self-control. There’s none of this: “Well, sorry I snapped at you. I guess patience isn’t one of the fruits that the Spirit has given me.” Or, “Oops – I guess I shouldn’t have committed adultery, but faithfulness isn’t one of my spiritual fruits…” Can you imagine standing before God and saying that?
Go back to the apple example for a minute. Let’s say that the apple is juicy and red, but the taste is horrible and all its nutritional value was gone. Do you go the apple and say, “Well, I guess you got part of the deal down, so I’ll eat you and hope for the best?” I don’t think so.
But we’re
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