Conference yukon::christian_v7

184.0. "Fruit of the Spirit (musings from the Farmboy)" by HERIAM::BERNIER (Quit Ye Like Men... 1 Cor 16:13,14) Fri Jun 25 1993 11:18

  Trick question:  How many fruits of the Spirit are there?

I've asked this of a few people recently and no one got the right answer.
So I'll make it easier. Let's do it as a multiple choice question:

a) 9
b) 7
c) 1
d) none of the above

The answer is:


c) 1.  Most people say nine, since nine things are listed at the end of the 
verse.


Galatians 5:22 states "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 
			  ----------		  ---
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such 
there is no law."

 I referenced this scripture while getting ready to talk with a younger brother 
in the Lord about self-control (temperance in the KJV text above). I've read 
this passage many times and never noticed that while the subject and verb of 
the sentence (fruit and is) are in the singular the object of the sentence 
contains a list of items and should be treated as a plural object. Grammatically
speaking, the sentence should read, "But the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy,
etc..."

 Unless there really is only ONE fruit of the Spirit. My heart is inclined to 
believe this is so. Then why have a list of distinct qualities if there is only 
one fruit.

 I was pondering this while pruning an apple tree and it hit me that while I
would only get one kind of fruit on this tree that fruit had several ditinct 
characteristics that would distinguish it from the plum tree a short distance 
away. For example, an apple from this tree is reddish in color, somewhat small
in size, fairly round, has crisp white flesh, is *very* juicy, has a tart flavor
and so on. 

 When I spoke with this younger brother I asked him the question I asked you 
all above. He immediately said nine and rattled off the list in correct 
sequence. I informed him that there was only one and showed him the text. 

 "This is all one fruit," I said. 

 After discussing this for awhile, I found that he had taken the course many 
other folks have. He used the list of 9 characteristics to see how he was 
measuring up:

 " I'm doing okay on Love and Peace. And I have a lot of Joy in the Lord. I'm 
a little weak on Longsuffering and Meekness, but Gentleness and Kindness are 
easy. But thank Goodness that Self-Control (Temperance) is at the end of the 
list, and I can try that one later."

 I counseled him to allow the Holy Spirit to bear His fruit in his life, in all
of its aspects simultaneously - and not to try to do so himself by working on
this one a little bit and then that one a little and this other when he got a 
chance.

 I should do the same, methinks.

Gil

    Thank you Gil,
    
    What a blessing you are.  You provided just what I was looking for.  My
    wife and I are having about 30 kids over for a sleepover tonight and I
    needed a lesson on balance in our Christian walk to coincide with a
    craft we are doing(a balancing man made out of a clothes pin).  As soon
    as I saw your note I *knew*.  Praise God!
    
    Dave

    Gil,
    
    As usual you just blessed my socks off [actually I wear pantyhose] :-)
    
    Is this your last day?
    
    Nancy

    Nancy,
    
    >Is this your last day?
    
    
     I wish!! Actually, I had to give a 30-day notice. That nmeans that
    I'll be around until July 16th. If I need to go prior to that, my
    manager will waive the remainder of the 30 days.
    
    Gil