What Are the Fruits of the Spirit? A Look at Galatians 5:22-23
The fruits of the Spirit are nine qualities that grow in a life shaped by God: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Paul lists them in Galatians 5:22-23, and he calls them fruit, not works, because they are produced by the Spirit at work in us, not by us trying harder. The fruits of the Spirit are evidence of God's transforming presence in everyday life.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things." (Galatians 5:22-23 CSB)
One of the really great questions we can ask when we come to a passage like this is, are these things we’re supposed to do, or are they things God builds in us. Like so many things, the answer is “both.” We don’t aimlessly go through our lives unaware and inattentive to what God expects of us. However, that doesn’t mean we should try to—or that we can—exemplify the fruits of the Sprit by our own effort. We do not climb our way into love or schedule our way into self-control. We walk with the Spirit, and the fruit grows. At best, our effort is to come alongside what the Spirit is already doing.
Paul wrote this to a church that was drifting (maybe even running) back toward rule-keeping. Pauls says they had started in the Spirit and were trying to finish in the flesh. They had relied on grace, faith, and the Holy Spirit for salvation, but now they were trying to live by their own effort. So Paul reminds them what the Christian life actually looks like, not as a list of behaviors to manufacture, but as a tree that bears fruit because of where it is rooted.
We are not the gardener. We are the branch.
Why Paul Calls It Fruit and Not Works
The contrast in Galatians 5 is sharp. Paul names the works of the flesh first, in verses 19-21. The list is long and is not something we would want to emulate . Then he turns the corner with one word. Fruit. Not works. Singular, not plural in the original Greek.
The change in language is on purpose. Works are produced by effort. Fruit is produced by life. An apple tree does not strain to grow apples. It bears apples because it is an apple tree. If you want a different fruit, you have to change the tree.
Jesus said the same thing in John 15:5. "I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me." (CSB) Apart from Him, no fruit. Connected to Him, fruit grows on its own. Our part is the remaining. His part is the producing.
That changes everything about how you read this list.
The Nine Fruits of the Spirit Explained
Each of these deserves its own post, and we will go deeper into each one in this series. For now, here is what each word actually means.
Love. Agape in the Greek. Not a feeling, but a chosen, sacrificial commitment to the good of another. This is the love John says God Himself is (1 John 4:8). It is the love we are called to walk in like Jesus walked.
Joy. Chara. Deeper than happiness. Joy stays even when circumstances are less than ideal. Paul wrote about joy from a prison cell. James told believers to count it joy when they faced trials. This is not pretending. It is the steady gladness we receive from God no matter what is happening around us.
Peace. Eirene. The Hebrew shalom is probably in the background of the New Testament teaching on peace. Wholeness, rightness, the quiet that comes from being reconciled to God. Not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God in the trouble.
Patience. Makrothymia. Literally "long-suffering." A slow temper. The capacity to bear with people, with delay, with hardship, without snapping. God's patience with us is the model. We show that same patience toward others because we ourselves have received it from God.
Kindness. Chrestotes. Goodness made gentle. Romans 2:4 says it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. Kindness is what truth looks like when love is driving the bus.
Goodness. Agathosune. Think moral integrity informed by love. A good person in the biblical sense is one whose character can be trusted. Doing right because right is what they are.
Faithfulness. Pistis. Reliable, trustworthy, the quality of one who keeps their word. The same word translated "faith" elsewhere. God Himself is faithful (Lamentations 3:22-23) as He continues to care for and love us. We reflect this character when we cling to God and His truth no matter what is going on around us.
Gentleness. Prautes. The same word translated "meek" in the Beatitudes. Strength under control. Power that chooses restraint. Gentleness is not weakness. It is what strength looks like when it is shaped by the Spirit.
Self-control. Egkrateia. Mastery over impulse. The ability to say no to what is good for the moment for the sake of what is good for the long haul. Proverbs says self-control is greater than capturing a city.
How the Fruit Actually Grows
Paul does not say "go produce fruit." He says "walk by the Spirit" (Galatians 5:16, 25). The fruit comes from the walking.
What does walking by the Spirit look like? It looks like prayer that is real, scripture that is read, repentance that is genuine, obedience that is daily. It looks like staying connected to the vine. None of that is glamorous. Most of it is small. The fruit grows out of the small.
I am not patient by default. Not joyful by default. Not gentle by default. The Spirit is still working on me, and one of the ways He does that is through what we would normally call the spiritual disciplines. Prayer, Bible reading, meditation, silence, solitude, and a bunch of other things like that are key ways that we train our souls to be receptive to the work the Spirit wants to do as we are changed by His love.
Goodness is grown in. Not bolted on.
What to Do When You Do Not See the Fruit Yet
Some seasons, you look for love and find irritation. You reach for patience and find a short fuse. You hope for peace and find a churning stomach.
The process the Spirit uses to grow fruit in us can be long, slow, and painful.
But take heart. If the Spirit lives in you—and He lives in all believers—the fruit is coming. Romans 8:11 says the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you. He is not finished. The fact that you grieve the gap between who you are and who you want to be is itself the Spirit's work. Dead branches do not grieve. That’s not to say you should focus on grieving—instead we focus on cultivating ourselves for the Spirit’s work. We return to prayer, to Bible study, to meditating on God’s word. We look for ways to say ‘yes’ to what the Holy Spirit is growing in us.
Keep walking. Keep remaining. The fruit grows where the branch stays put.
If you are not sure how to recognize the Spirit's work in your life, I wrote about how to know it is God's Spirit, and the markers Paul gives us in Scripture.
Why This List Matters for Daily Life
The fruits of the Spirit are not a personality test. They are a portrait of Christ Himself. Look at the list again. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That is the character of Jesus. To be filled with the Spirit is to be made more like Him.
Romans 8:29 says God is conforming us to the image of His Son. The fruit of the Spirit is not a checklist. It is a face. The more we walk with Him, the more our lives start to look like His.
We are not the gardener. We are the branch.
The Spirit produces the fruit.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Fruits of the Spirit
How many fruits of the Spirit are there?
There are nine fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The Greek word is singular, karpos, suggesting one cluster of fruit with nine qualities.
What is the fruit of the Spirit in the Bible?
The fruit of the Spirit is the character produced in a believer's life by the Holy Spirit. Paul lists nine qualities in Galatians 5:22-23. They are not behaviors we manufacture but qualities that grow as we walk with God and remain connected to Christ (John 15:5).
Where in the Bible are the fruits of the Spirit?
The fruits of the Spirit are in Galatians 5:22-23. Paul writes the letter to a church being pulled back into rule-keeping, and he contrasts the works of the flesh in verses 19-21 with the fruit of the Spirit in verses 22-23.
What is the difference between fruit and works of the Spirit?
Paul intentionally calls these qualities fruit, not works. Works are something we produce by effort. Fruit is something a tree produces by life. The fruit of the Spirit grows out of being connected to Christ, not out of trying harder.
Are the fruits of the Spirit gifts?
No. Paul distinguishes between spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12) and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5). Gifts are given for serving the church. Fruit is grown as we become becoming like Christ. Every believer bears the fruit. Not every believer has the same gifts—every believer has one or more spiritual gifts, they just aren’t all the same. More on that another time.
Taking care of home, pastor, science teacher, Bible reader