The Fruit of Righteousness and the Fruit of the Spirit

When Jesus says that he has chosen us to bear fruit that will last, the fruit he has in mind is the fruit of the Spirit--that is, the work the Holy Spirit does within us as we yield to him to make us like Christ. It is not our work, our "fruits," at all--it is all his work.

So, if the only important intended “fruit” of the Christian life isn’t new converts to “feed” the Organization, what other kind of “fruit” is there.

I would propose that the “fruit” God is seeking is in our individual characters, in lives that show his work through us and our dependence on him. And I note that the New Testament actually calls such character development “fruit.” For example, James uses exactly the same word for “fruit” that Jesus did in John 15 in two adjacent sentences speaking obviously to character qualities and behaviors God gives us:

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by his good conduct that his deeds are done in gentleness of wisdom.  But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, sensual, and demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits (karpōn), without partiality, and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit (karpos) of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

James 3:13-18 (WEB)

Here, James contrasts the fruit (singular) of righteousness, the product of divine wisdom, against the origin and effects of the “wisdom” of the world. Worldly wisdom comes out of the physical world, out of our own natural thoughts and feelings (it is psyxikós –from our own psyche) and, ultimately, from the demonic realm. It leads to bitter jealousy and selfish ambition–to individual or collective self-worship–and, where these things are “there is confusion and every evil deed.” This is just what James saw in the world around him, and we see in our own world if we do not close our eyes to it.

On the other hand, divine wisdom “comes down from above.” God must give it to us. It produces good conduct that is, most of all, characterized by “gentleness,” “mildness,” the opposite of angry, jealous self-seeking. That wisdom, James says in verse 17, is first of all “pure” (hagnós)–ritually clean, fit for use in worship, unmixed with anything from our self-life that would defile it. James then adds a string of three descriptions that look very much like different faces of the same thing: kindness God works out through us to others that is like God’s kindness toward us. Peaceful or peaceable, eirēnikē, both being at peace (free of jealousy and selfish ambition) and seeking peace with others. Gentle, epieikḗs, being forbearing, not easily angered, and also being reasonable in my expectations, reasonable toward what others ask of me, and moderate. “Full of mercy,” full of éleos, which refers not only to being willing to give “charity” (alms) but also is the Septuagint’s translation of the Hebrew word for God’s “covenant-love” or “covenant-mercy.” And also full of “good fruits.” So far, the list is all about what I will let God show other people through my life if I am living in God’s wisdom.

James then returns to the manner in which God will show this fruit to the world through us. If it is really God’s work, it will be “impartial” (adiakritos) and without hypocrisy (anypokritos). “Impartial,” though, is really far too weak a translation of adiakritos–the intended meaning is not so much that God’s fruit in us will show no distinction between people, as that it will be wholehearted, not distinguishable from any part of us that we keep separate, that is not his work. On the other hand, anypokritos is just what it looks like, a + hypocritos, involving no falsification, no play-acting. If it is really God’s work, it is completely honest, not faked, and takes everything, with nothing held back.

Where God is doing this work, “the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” God’s fruit grows from peace, sown by those who are living in God’s peace, not from confrontation, anger and strife.

James’ treatment of the fruit of God in our lives provides a good introduction to Paul’s better-known treatment of the same subject in Galatians. Paul starts by contrasting the way of the flesh, which causes bondage and strife in which we consume each other, and the way of God’s Spirit, which is love and leads to freedom:

For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Galatians 5:13-18 (WEB)

Then, after giving the well-known list of evil attitudes and behaviors caused by our corrupted human nature–the “works” (plural), not the “fruit,” “of the flesh,” Galatians 5:19-21–Paul lists the “fruit” of the Spirit, which are, collectively, the components of the life the Spirit will grow within us:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.  If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit…

Galatians 5:22-25

This is only one “fruit,” there are not ten “fruits.” It is an indivisible whole. Like a piece of fruit, it grows–so it may not be fully mature in us, though it is maturing and is visible. But immaturity of this fruit will not mean, for instance, that I have joy and patience down pat, but need to “work on” growing more love, peace and gentleness. No, it’s not my work at all. It is the Spirit’s fruit, all growing simultaneously as I give him control. Giving myself to him is my only part in the process.

Here, then, is a brief summary of the meaning of the various components of the Spirit’s fruit:

Love–agápē: love, both like what our culture normally thinks of as love and unlike it. It is like romantic love in the sense noted by Solovyov: it passionately seeks the good of the one loved because, in an ultimate sense, it passionately seeks union with the one loved. But, again as Solovyov pointed out, this “ultimate” union means something different for agápē–ultimate union in Christ–than it does for eros. More traditional readings of agápē avoid the need to make this distinction by removing the passion from agápē, making it mean, as in the sources quoted in Bible Hub’s online concordance, dispassionate “benevolence, good will, esteem,” in other words, “love which centers in moral preference.” The online concordance then goes on to explain: “so too in secular ancient Greek, 26 (agápē) focuses on preference; likewise the verb form (25 /agapáō) in antiquity meant “to prefer” (TDNT, 7). In the NT, 26 (agápē) typically refers to divine love (= what God prefers).” And, to be sure, a large element of preference–God’s election for reasons outside us–is involved in agápē. But it is in tension with passion. God is passionate about his choice of us, passionate about his love for us, and passionate about his work of bringing us into full union with himself. And, as God’s Spirit develops His love within us, our love will also be passionate, even though based on his preference, his choice.

Joy–xará: joy, gladness, a source of joy. But, once again, traditional interpretations, well represented by the notes on Bible Hub’s online concordance, try to take the strong emotional component out of “joy,” making it more of an objective, dispassionate “awareness (of God’s) grace, favor; joy (‘grace recognized’).” I suspect this separation of the emotional component from “joy” may result from the traditional–but largely unscriptural–doctrine that God is perfectly “impassive.” This old doctrine first declares that God is incapable of being changed by events in his Creation–that is, as English translations of Aquinas say, that God has no “real relation” with his Creation–and concludes from this that he is incapable of feeling emotions. If this were true, the “joy” His Spirit grows in us would, of necessity, also have to be impassive, strictly a moral quality rather than an emotion. But, praise God, this view of God is incorrect. See, e.g., Isaiah 62:4-5 (directly comparing God’s own joy to that of a bridegroom!), Isaiah 65:17-19, Psalm 104:31, Jeremiah 32:41, Zephaniah 3:17, Luke 10:21-22, Luke 15:32. (See, also, God Can Feel and Respond to Events that Affect Us Without Changing for the beginning of an explanation). It is this passionate joy God is growing in us.

Peace– eirḗnē –which these same sources indicate is derived from the verb eirō, “to join, tie together into a whole.” Thus, “peace” is wholeness, i.e. when “all essential parts are joined together; peace (God’s gift of wholeness).” So eirḗnē carries much the same sense as the Hebrew shalom; it is a positive concept, wholeness, health. This implies the absence of division and strife, but that of which it is the absence is not its primary meaning.

Patience: makrothymía–literally, having a long (makrós) passion, anger or temper (thymós). Patience is the ability to wait sufficient time before expressing our passions–whether these passions would lead to outbursts of anger, rash action, or dejected surrender. Our human passions will die out, in time, if not fanned into flame. It is God’s passions, which he is growing within us, that stand the test of time, and it is only these passions which are sure to be expressed at the right time and in the right way, under God’s control. Indeed, God himself is said to have makrothymía toward us. See, God’s Patience and Our Repentance, 2 Peter 3:9.

Kindness: xrēstótēs: something/ someone that is useful, profitable, well-fit for use. This is a noun, derived from the adjective xrēstós, “useful, profitable,” from which also the spelling variant Xristos is applied to Jesus himself: Jesus “ho Xristos” – the “Christ,” the Anointed One, anointed to God’s purposes, God’s “use.” The fact that the root noun is used as the most common title for Jesus himself should be a clue that, in xrēstótēs, we are dealing with a quality that is difficult to put into words, and for which, in fact, no single English word is adequate. But combining two of the alternative definitions discussed in the Bible Hub online concordance comes pretty close: 1) “kindness that is also serviceable… meeting real needs, in God’s way, in His timing (fashion)”, and 2) “the Spirit-produced goodness which meets the need and avoids human harshness (cruelty).”

Goodness: agathōsýnē. This is another noun derived from a primary adjective, agathós, the simple word for “good,” “inherently good.” So agathōsýnē is intrinsic goodness, especially as a personal quality. “No one is good (agathós), but God alone.” Matthew 19:17. Only God can make us “good,” by growing his “goodness” in us.

Faith: pístis. This is a noun which is given a number of different English readings: faith, belief, trust, confidence; fidelity, faithfulness. It is derived from the verb peíthō, “persuade” (active voice) or “be persuaded” (middle or passive voice). What all of the variant English readings of the noun pístis share is that they describe properties, attitudes or actions of someone who is fully persuaded–or, in the case of God, who is also said to have pístis, lacking any doubt or uncertainty of action. This faith or faithfulness–the word is broad enough to include both–must be grown within me by the Holy Spirit. It is not my work–in me or in you. That is, I cannot work myself up into having faith, or having “more” faith. Also, I can neither persuade nor force you to have faith. It is all of God.

Gentleness: praýtēs. –”meekness (‘gentle strength’) which expresses power with reserve and gentleness.” (This definition is quoted directly from the online concordance). In the human world, power insists on demonstrating itself, on being exerted against others just to be seen and to intimidate. “[Jesus] said to them, ‘The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’  But not so with you. But one who is the greater among you, let him become as the younger, and one who is governing, as one who serves.'” Luke 2:25-26. True power comes only from God, as does also the ability to possess it without abusing it. This is “gentleness” or “meekness.”

Self-control: egkráteia. The state of having mastery or dominion (krátos) in or within (en–) some sphere. In the discussion of the fruit of the Spirit, that sphere is my life. But, wait! I am only a breath away from death, and cannot by my own worry and my own effort even make one of my hairs inherently white or black. Matthew 5:36. How can I possibly have mastery over myself? I can’t. This is also a part of the fruit the Spirit must grow within me.

This is, in fact, the riddle of the entire fruit of the Spirit: self-control is not self-control, not control by self; instead, it is giving self over to the Spirit, permitting the Spirit to grow all his fruit within me.

“If we live by the Spirit, let’s also walk by the Spirit…”

Next: The Heavens are All Around Us!