MISCONCEPTION ABOUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

There are some misconceptions I noticed in the body of Christ today, it is all about the “fruit of the Spirit.”
I’ve been to some gatherings whereby I will ask the question that “how many fruit of the spirit do we have?” Some will say nine (9), while some will say seven (7.)
I’m putting up this article to correct that error.

The first thing I want you to know is that, when we are talking about the fruit of the spirit, the concept emanated from the word of Jesus in the book of John 15:1-4;
[1] I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
[2] Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
[3] Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
[4] Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

You should understand the picture Jesus was painting here. He said, “He is a tree, and in that tree, there are many branches, and the branches bring forth fruit.” Jesus said “fruit,” not “fruits.” He said, “any branch in me that bringeth not fruit, I taketh away.”

This is linked to the fruit of the Spirit that we are talking about. When Jesus was going, He made a promise to us that He was going to send another comforter and He’s going to be with us forever. This comforter is Jesus Christ Himself, Jesus is the one that is with us, living in us, and that is with us in form of the Holy Spirit.
If Jesus said that “I am the tree,” and Jesus is not on earth currently, and He gave us a replacement, a substitutionary personality that He’s going to be with us, that personality is the one that is going to represent Jesus. That is why we call it the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of Jesus. Maybe when Jesus was on earth, you can liken those attributes to the fruit of the world, or the fruit of Jesus, but currently, Jesus is not on earth, He is in us in form of the Holy Spirit.

When we are talking about the fruit of the Spirit, we should look at the tree, a tree does not bear different fruits. Have you ever seen a tree bearing up to seven (7) or nine (9) fruits? So, it is not fruits of the Spirit, but where the misconception used to come is what Paul told us with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the book of Galatians 5:22-23;
[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
[23] Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

These are what they used to call the fruits of the Spirit. But look at what Paul said, he said, “but the fruit,” he didn’t say the “fruits of the Holy Spirit,” Even if it is the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the next “marker” that should follow it should be the “plural marker.” He said that the fruit of the Spirit “is.” If it is more than one, it shouldn’t be “is,” it should be “are.” “The fruits of the Spirit are…” then we will begin to be mentioning them. But he said, “the fruit of the Spirit is…” So, we should sit down, look at this point and think about what Paul was really saying here. You’re mentioning nine (9) different attributes, you’re mentioning nine (9) different characters, and you’re telling us that it is one.

This is where I want to explain it to us, whenever you’re reading a bible, and you get to a junction whereby you’re not getting what the scripture is saying very well, what you should do is to compare different versions of the scripture. I’ve met with so many people, and they’ll tell me that they don’t understand what the bible is saying, the only answer I’ll give to them is not to explain it to them, I’ll tell them to go and read it from another version of the scripture and they’ll come back to me leaping for joy that they got the understanding already. That is what we are going to do also in other to understand what Paul is trying to say here.

Look at the book of Galatians 5:22-23 from “The Passion Translation, (TPT)
vs 22–23; But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions:
Joy that overflows, peace that subdues, patience that endures, kindness in action,
a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit.
Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless.

Paul said that the fruit that the Spirit produced is just one, which is “divine love.”
And this “divine love” can be seen in different ways. For example; I can be manifested in different forms or ways: To my mother, I am a son, to my disciples, I am their spiritual father or discipler, to my younger brother, I am an elder brother, to my child, I am a father. That is me manifesting in different forms. So is the fruit of the Spirit, it is just one, and it is manifesting itself in different forms.

I hope you understand from this article that we are only having one fruit of the Spirit.

If you’re having any questions or contributions, feel free to drop them in the comment box.
Thank you so much!