βBut the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no lawβ (Gal.Β 5:22,23).
The βfruit of the Spiritβ is that combination of graces evidenced in the lives of believers who βwalk in the Spirit.β Let us never make the mistake of supposing that βthe Spirit,β in Gal.Β 5 refers to βthe spirit of man which is in himβ (I Cor.Β 2:11). It refers rather to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, who indwells believers. The spiritual virtues listed above do not spring from any goodness in us, but from the Spirit of God dwelling within.
Next, we should observe that these graces are not the product of human effort. The passage above declares that they are fruit, and fruit is the natural product of life and growth. Indeed, βthe fruit of the Spiritβ is here contrasted with βthe works of the fleshβ (Gal. 5:19-21), and these are all bad!
Finally, it is a remarkable fact that the graces which the Holy Spirit produces in yielded believers are certainly not those which the world admires. The world admires self-confidence, self-respect, self-made men, intellectual prowess, personal magnetism, authority, etc., while the Spirit produces βlove, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.β But consider the difference. A man may have self-confidence, intellectual acumen, political or other power β and he may still be very difficult to live with, but not so with the virtues which the Spirit produces. Of those who possess these graces the Apostle says: βAgainst such there is no law.β source
