The Fruit of the Spirit Is Not the Evidence Of Receiving the Holy Spirit
So many times people have listened to others and not to what the Bible teaches. Or
sometimes people draw their own conclusions about Bible experiences, such as salvation or
receiving the Holy Spirit instead of relying on what the Word says. They want to accept their
own conclusions instead of accepting what the Bible says.
For example, some people argue against the baptism of the Holy Spirit by saying, "But a lot of
these Full Gospel folks who speak with tongues don't have the fruit of the Spirit as they ought
to have; therefore, they could not be filled with the Holy Spirit." However, the fruit that Paul
talks about in Gala-tians 5:22 and 23 is not the fruit of the baptism of the Holy Spirit at all. It is
the fruit of the recreated human spirit.
GALATIANS 5:22,23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffer-ing, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Most Bible translators and scholars agree that the word "Spirit" is erroneously capitalized in
verse 22, and that it should be "spirit" indicating that it is the fruit of the born-again, recreated
human spirit.
Therefore, Galatians 5:22 and 23 is talking about the fruit that should be in the life of every
believe r, not just in the life of Spirit-filled believers. Jesus said, 1 am the vine, ye are the
branches . . ." (John 15:5).
Fruit grows on branches, and Jesus said believers are the branches. Therefore, the fruit of the
spirit grows in the life of the born-again, recreated believer because of the life of Christ resident
and developed within believers — the branches.
The first fruit of the spirit listed in Galatians chapter 5 is love. Believers who are filled with the
Holy Spirit don't necessarily have any more love than Christians who are not filled with the
Spirit, for the simple reason that Jesus said all believers are to have love: "By THIS shall all
men know that ye are my DISCIPLES, if ye have LOVE one to another" ( John 13:35).
Every believer is to have the fruit of love. The Bible further states that "We [every believer]
know that we have passed from death unto life, because we LOVE the brethren . . ." ( 1 John
3:14). Love is the fruit of the born-again human spirit, not the fruit of the baptism of the Holy
Spirit; therefore, every Christian should have the fruit of the spirit regardless of whether or not
he is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Another fruit of the spirit listed in Galatians chapter 5 is peace. I didn't have any more peace
after I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost than I had before. The Word of God says in
Romans 5:1, "Therefore being justified by faith [in Jesus Christ], we have peace. ..." Therefore,
peace is a fruit that should be resident in the life of every Christian because of the life of Christ
within through the new birth.
However, one thing we must understand about the fruit of the spirit is that, just as with natural
fruit, the fruit of the spirit can grow and be developed in the believer's life. Baby Christians, for
example, don't produce and grow fruit all at once. After all, you don't expect a baby tree to