Biblical ethicists rightly emphasize the nine characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. For example, Christopher J. H. Wright gives a chapter to each of these qualities in Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit; see also Joel Beeke and Paul M. Smalley’s Reformed Systematic Theology: Spirit and Salvation and Zoltán Dörnyei’s The Psychology of the Fruit of the Spirit. This approach is representative of the basic Bible teaching that children learn from a young age at church. In this presentation, I propose to honor that tradition while also expanding it considerably, arguing that the origin of spiritual fruit is not limited to the third person of the Trinity and spiritual fruit is not limited to these nine facets.
First, the origin of spiritual fruit includes each member of the Godhead. For example, whereas Paul refers to the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22, he refers to the “fruit of the light,” which he has identified as Christ, in Ephesians 5:9. Additionally, myriad Old Testament references associate spiritual fruit with the LORD (e.g., Psalm 1:1–3), which have their genesis ultimately in the doctrine of creation. In fact, the motif of fruit is not original with Paul (or the other New Testament authors who use it) but has its source in the broader socio-historical context in which he lived, stretching back to Old Testament times (see G. K. Beale’s “The OT Background of Paul’s Reference to ‘the Fruit of the Spirit’ in Galatians 5:22”). Therefore, the doctrine of spiritual fruit considers the work not only of the Holy Spirit but also of the trinitarian God’s work of sanctification in the believer’s life.
Second, spiritual fruit is not limited to the nine characteristics listed in Galatians 5. Ephesians 5 also lists righteousness (or justice) and truth. In fact, the New Testament is bursting with references and allusions to spiritual fruit because, again, its authors are writing from a theological context that appealed regularly to this theme. An initial examination of the New Testament has revealed approximately fifty distinctive facets of spiritual fruit that its authors and figures (e.g., Jesus, Paul, Peter, and James) identify. For example, James refers to the cultivation of spiritual fruit, which he additionally identifies with purity, reasonableness, mercy, and sincerity (1:18; 3:17–18; 4:8). Peter likewise refers to further spiritual fruit, including humility, submission to human institutions, honor, fear of God, harmony, sympathy, not returning evil for evil, blessing persecutors, moral excellence, godliness, knowledge, and endurance (1 Peter 1:22; 2:13–17, 23; 3:8–9; 2 Peter 1:5–7); while Peter does not explicitly use the language of fruit, he appeals to the broader agrarian motif, referring to the spiritual seed of the believer (1 Peter 1:23).
In summary, while the church’s common understanding of spiritual fruit is an instructive one, this presentation will argue that Christian ethics should expand its teaching regarding the origin and facets of spiritual fruit.