The Most Important Fruit of the Spirit

[Raven180]

Galatians 5:22-23,

22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23. Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Of the nine listed fruits, which one do you think is the most important? Is it love? I mean, it is listed first, perhaps being inspired by the Spirit that way for a purpose. And after all, when it comes to faith, hope, and love, Paul wrote that the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Maybe it's faith, since, without faith, it's impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6)?

Could it be meekness, since the meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5)?

Well, in many ways, and at different junctures, we might make a valid case for any of the above to be the most important. But I want to make the case that, of the nine, temperance or self-control, is the most important. Here's why:

Of all of them, self-control is the most black and white, and cannot be faked, nor corrupted. Here's what I mean.

Love? Love can be faked (2 Corinthians 6:6 and 1 Peter 1:22). Additionally (and sadly), love can be corrupted. One can allow themselves to feel such an emotive level of love (called phileo), that they neglect the greater love called agape. Agape is God's kind of love. It is a love of principle and righteousness. It loves truth and holiness and isn't blinded by what the Bible calls "inordinate affection" (Colossians 3:5).

We, however, sometimes are so blinded, and miss out on performing God's agape in favor of man's phileo.

In terms of joy, well, joy can be experienced through the flesh as giddiness. We can experience certain euphoric or ecstatic events in life set squarely in the realm of human emotion, even if it's caused by drugs or hysteria.

Peace can easily be confused with a false sense of security. Humans often deceive themselves in this area. Just because everything appears, on the surface, to be okay, it doesn't mean things actually are secure. Peace is not true peace until tested by the raging storms of life's seas.

Longsuffering can be used by people with martyrs syndrome. You know the type. They act like they are being patient and suffering nobly for a cause, purpose, or reason, but in reality, it's only a show, an act of pride for others to see just how "patient", "caring", and "longsuffering" they really are. But it's all a sham. Such carnal displays are for attention only. They are not inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Gentleness, or moral kindness, like longsuffering, can have a deceitful appearance. Supposed acts of kindness can really amount to nothing more than attempts at manipulation. Some only act moral and decent because they know it can get them special favor, i.e. favorable returns on their actions. They don't do anything out of the goodness of the heart; rather it's a scratch my back kind of kindness. Definitely not of the Spirit.

Goodness, or uprightness of character is sometimes a stumblingblock to self. We can think so highly of our own uprightness of heart, or have others puff us up, that we fail to see just how lowly we actually are. Integrity can often be a cover for ambition and pride. Someone who, through supposed good character, might only be sticking to their righteous guns, as it were, for an ulterior motive, like selfishness, even if, in the long run they end up hurting someone or doing more damage than good. Some people just don't know how to temper their iron resolve to be good with the love and patience that others, who are not morally good or upright, need and crave from those who are.

Faith, like love, can be faked (1 Timothy 1:5 and 2 Timothy 1:5). Faith, or trust in God, is one of those areas where you have a lot of talkers, fewer walkers. Many people, especially ministers, often tell others how they need to have faith, but, sadly, have precious little of their own. This lends itself to hypocrisy. Faith is easily preached, not easily lived.

Many people make great strides and go to great lengths to appear meek. In reality, they are simply dour-faced actors putting on a pretense. The woe is me crowd often appear meek to the untrained eye. So, in the final analysis, self-pity is the bastard cousin of meekness. All too often, we confuse the two.

So, what is it about self-control that's different?

Well, as mentioned, self-control cannot be faked. It is easily and immediately provable as a fruit. When one is tested, or put into a difficult situation, one will either control themselves, or act out. There's no faking it. No masks are available behind which one can hide. Either the mind and soul maintain control over self, or not. There's no middle ground. In every circumstance, in every way, one either demonstrates temperance or not.

Additionally, self-control or temperance is the fruit that governs all the others. Temperance is what keeps a person in agape when their flesh rather act out in phileo.

Temperance doesn't let a person fall into giddy, unrestrained euphoria, either. This fruit recognizes true Spirit-given joy from mere carnal ecstasy.

Self-control, as an act of will, maintains true peace. It doesn't settle for a false sense of security. One who can control themselves, with the help of God, controls the circumstances surrounding their life, making sure things are in right, peaceful order as ordained by the Lord.

People who are truly self-controlled by the Spirit actually can be longsuffering, even in the most trying of trials. They don't allow themselves to become a "martyr" for the sake of pride and arrogance.

When one is in control of self, they don't manipulate others with feigned acts of kindness. If they aren't capable of being kind in such and such a moment, they at least control themselves sufficiently to not act fake. Self-controlled people don't flatter others.

In regards to moral uprightness of character, a highly esteemed, necessary fruit, goodness is easily tempered by self-control. Such uprightness never becomes a stumblingblock, and is never used unwisely to the hurt or destruction of others. No matter how morally right someone is, they don't abuse that fact.

Temperance doesn't allow for hypocrisy. Someone who is in complete possession of their faculties, knows to truly walk by faith, and not just fake it. Such a controlled person, if faith is waning, will recognize their personal decrease in trust toward God and do something about it.

Finally, in regards to meekness, it might simply be said that one cannot be meek if they don't know how to control themselves. Meekness, after all, is the humility required in order to be teachable. One who cannot control themselves will never be teachable, if for no other reason than they can't sit still long enough to listen to someone else attempt to instruct them.

As you can see, self-control, while last on the list, is certainly not the least. In fact, it just might be the most important. As another little test to prove this, ask yourself: Of the nine fruits of the Spirit, which one do you find is the hardest to maintain?

I thought so.

Peace and God bless.

http://votivesoul.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/the-most-important-fruit-of-the-spirit/

[Melody]

I read it & have heard it taught that it is one fruit.  One fruit that has all those traits.  One Spirit bearing one fruit.  A tree only bears one type of fruit.  He is the vine, we are the branches. If we offend in one point of the law, we've broken all of it.  I don't see or read it as a divisible, categorized option.  If we don't possess or are growing in all of those, what profit are the rest? We are dysfunctional, handicapped, neither whole nor mature as the reference you made of if we don't have love, we really don't have anything.  If anything, I believe, as we grow & develope these fruit become more mature, pronounced, sweet & ready to share in a healthy receptive way.  When our fruit is ripe it will be as being whole & ready to be completely in servanthood to thus "die" that the seeds can be received in a nutritious (healthy discipleship) way & go on to produce fruit in others through receiving the HolyGhost (water) whatever amount if truth they've gotten thus far (seed in believing) on good ground, being their heart. When we recieve the HG we have received the DNA that produces the fruit, all of the attributes.  We must cultivate our hearts that our fruit is good.  Good fruit comes from good trees, bad fruit from bad trees, there is no mix. Crab apples are inedible, they are not viable though they in fact look & smell like apples.  They aren't simply under developed, they are from a completely diff. seed. One will choke the other root system out.  This is exciting to me that God is a complete God.  He truly gave us Himself. 

I do suspect there is something to the order in which they are named.  And I agree that temperance is vital & evidence of true maturity in the Holy Ghost. 

It can be helpful to take inventory on ourselves at times, it all comes from Jesus & it's Him we pursue to develope the fruit of His Spirit in us.  If I lack gentleness/kindness, it's not in pursuing kindness that I'll find it but in pursuing God to have total residence in me.  So I want to be careful that though they are named that I do not justify having one thing and not another.  I don't know if I want to make one better than another or prioritize the bc the effect is the other characteristics automatically becoming less important.  I have seen military people have great self control but no love, gentleness ect.  They hold an idea as a God instead of the God that made the truth that sets the idea. 

Perhaps that is just me though.  I may be overcautious.  These days there are so many good sounding teachings.

People can also be used in all nine gifts yet it's all the Holy Ghost.  One Spirit, many attributes.

[Lynx]

I would have to disagree about love.  True love cannot be faked.  Some may mistake something else for love but true, unconditional love is unmistakable and cannot be feigned. 

It can however be learned.  It is not a matter of either-you-have-it-or-you-don't.

When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment, he said the first is to love God with all you have and all you are (roughly paraphrasing) and the second is to love others as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.  In other words, if you follow these two commandments you won't even need to worry about breaking the rest of them.  If you love God you will do what God wants - not as a servant, not as someone who has to because God will beat him over the head if he doesn't, not because you want to escape hell and get to Heaven someday, but because you love God and you want to do what pleases Him.  If you love your neighbor the same way you love yourself then you will naturally not steal from, kill, lie against him or any other bad things you might do to harm him.  If you have love, all the rest of the fruits will follow as a natural result of love.

Having said all that... I don't believe all the others in the list are completely irrelevant, and if you're missing one you really should work on that.  People know you by your fruit, the same way I know that's a pear tree outside my window because every year it puts out rather large, really hard baking pears. 

Speaking of temperance though, although I do not believe it is more important than all the rest, it certainly takes the most time and work to develop.  It doesn't spring into being in your heart fully developed, all at once. 

[Raven180]

You're correct, Psalm

True love cannot be faked. But notice, you had to write true before love to qualify which kind of love can and cannot be faked. As for the Scripture references, since the Bible speaks of unfeigned love I suggest it's possible to have the opposite, i.e. feigned love.

And while it's true that all the law and prophets hang upon the 1st and 2nd commandments, we also know that, regarding the fruits of the Spirit, "against such there is no law". So, in a way, the fruits of the Spirit, manifesting as one lives and walks in the Spirit, suggests something apart from and different than commandments, as we think of them.

Speaking of temperance though, although I do not believe it is more important than all the rest, it certainly takes the most time and work to develop.  It doesn't spring into being in your heart fully developed, all at once.

Maybe I can clarify. When I say most important fruit, it's not meant to denigrate the others or to make a one to one comparison, as if they were in competition with each other. But regarding their individual purposes, I believe that temperance both governs and bolsters the others. So, as both a framework and a support to the other 8, in this way, the purpose for which temperance serves is "the most important".

[Niki]

I too have heard (and believe) that it's one fruit.

[Raven180]

This "one fruit" idea seems rather eisegetical to me. While the word fruit is singular (both in English and in Greek), fruit, without an "s" at the end, as a category, can easily refer to multiple, different fruits, as in "I like fruit".

I could like only one variety, say apples. But I could also like over a dozen kinds, each unique and different, while still all being thought of, together, as fruit, in the singular.

[SippinTea]

It doesn't say "fruitS" of the Spirit. It says "fruit". Those things all grow together. It's not like you can pick and choose.

[Melody]

Perhaps it is because in both Galatians 5:22 and Ephesians 5:9 it says, "the fruit of the Spirit IS..."  Rather than saying, "the fruit ARE..." 

Or maybe because of the principle of Romans 4:3.

And probably because as already mentioned,  without love, none of the rest count,  and whole I can see a person growing all around as a fruit, a baby etc does, I cannot see someone possessing any one isolated attribute without at least a hint of the others.

[Melody]

Hehehe. This is a good waffle vs spaghetti example.

[Lynx]

No, I'm a guy and I have to agree.  All the fruit of the spirit comes from the same mindset, the same world view.  The spirit that produces one will produce them all.  If you see only one and not the others, something is wrong.

[SippinTea]

^That.