Bible verse wall art
Galatians 5: the fruit of the Spirit
Nine qualities, one harvest. Paul's list in Galatians 5 is short enough to memorize and deep enough to spend a lifetime on, and it grows out of an argument about freedom.
Galatians 5 prints
Galatians 5 · King James Version
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.
Freedom, and what to do with it
The letter to the Galatians defends Christian freedom from the demand that Gentile believers keep the law of Moses. Chapter 5 opens with a call to stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made us free. But Paul knows freedom can be misused, so he turns at once to how free people should live.
His answer is to walk in the Spirit. He contrasts two ways of life, the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. The first list (verses 19 to 21) is long and ugly: sexual immorality, idolatry, hatred, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, drunkenness and more. The second is the list on our prints.
What is the fruit of the Spirit?
The word fruit is singular. Paul does not describe nine separate gifts that different people may have, but one harvest with many aspects, the way a single vine bears a whole cluster. The works of the flesh are plural and scattered; the fruit is one whole.
The list continues into verse 23 with meekness and temperance, making nine in all. The first three, love, joy and peace, describe a person's relationship with God. Longsuffering, gentleness and goodness face outward toward other people: patience under provocation, kindness, generosity. Faith here is best understood as faithfulness, being reliable, and meekness and temperance describe strength under control.
Fruit is also something you cannot manufacture. A branch does not strain to produce grapes; it stays connected to the vine and the fruit comes in its season. Paul's point is that these qualities are the Spirit's work in a person, not a checklist of virtues to achieve by effort. Verse 23 adds dryly that against such things there is no law.
Hanging the fruit of the Spirit at home
The verse is widely taught to children, often with a different fruit drawn for each quality, and it hangs well in a kitchen, a dining room or a classroom. Teachers, mentors and new parents receive it as a reminder of the kind of character they hope to grow.
The vine and its branches
The image goes back to Jesus in John 15: I am the vine, ye are the branches, and whoever abides in him brings forth much fruit. The Old Testament often calls Israel a vine or vineyard (Isaiah 5, Psalm 80), and Psalm 1 compares the righteous to a tree that brings forth fruit in season.