The Difference Between Gifts and Fruits of the Spirit
Before we talk about how to produce the fruits of the spirit, it’s important to look at the difference between the gifts of the spirit and the fruits of the spirit. Confusion between these two has led some people to expect that fruits should manifest in their lives the same way that gifts do. Gifts and fruits are fundamentally two different things even though both come from God and are the result of his grace to us.
The Fruits of the Spirit
The fruits of the Holy Spirit are produced from seed from (from scratch, so to speak) by a combination of diligently working under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to practice the disciplines of the spirit (also called spiritual disciplines) AND being led by the Holy Spirit in situations like trials and tribulations that He uses as tools to further cultivate our hearts to yield his the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. It’s training with information and practice or theory plus practice.
I’m reminded of how Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. Matthew 4:1 says, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.” The book of Matthew goes on to describe how Jesus fasted for 40 days and was tempted by the devil. All this was the plan of the Holy Spirit to grow Jesus. I am also reminded of the apostle James’ encouragement when we go through trials. He said, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” James 1:2-4
In a sense, our hearts are like a farm that the Holy Spirit grows his fruits on it. Yet, we are not passive observers of the process but play a crucial role with him in producing these fruits. By necessity, we cannot do it without him and by choice, He cannot do it without us. The Holy Spirit teaches in two phases. First is a didactic or theoretical phase and second is a practical phase where he sends us through the fire of trials, conflict, temptations, persecutions, etc. to fully develop. These two phases are not nicely separated by always happening simultaneously.
In general, the production of the fruit of the spirit starts with a seed form and takes a significant amount of time to produce and mature. The seed from which the fruit comes is the word of God which produces faith in us when we hear it. You can’t produce the fruits of the spirit in a day. Children are the fruits of the womb. They come out of a love relationship with a man and woman that takes time to form. Then conception happens and there is a long gestation period till the birth of the child. Even when the child is born, he is not fully mature. The fruit of the womb is still weak and needs taking care of. Then, the child must be nurtured daily until he grows into adulthood when able to withstand the pressures of life and live independently. This is a picture of the process of developing the fruit of the spirit.
The tools the Holy Spirit uses to produce the fruit of the spirit are:
- The seed of the word of God. [When God spoke his word, the universe was created. That same word creates the inner life that produces the fruits of the spirit.]
- The disciplines of the Spirit (spiritual disciplines). Studying the word is also a spiritual discipline. However, the word itself is not a discipline. We have to practice them diligently and obediently.
- Trials, tests, temptations, difficulties.
- Abide in Christ and Him in us (John 15). Submit to Him and obey.
- Time
**Read John 15. What Jesus teaches there about him being the vine and us being the branches is exactly the strategy He uses to produce fruit in us. The Holy Spirit is the spirit of Christ. The fruits Jesus is talking about in John 15 are the same kinds of fruits that Paul talks about when he speaks of the fruits of the Spirit. Notice that verse John 15:7 says, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will and it shall be done for you.” That points to intake of God’s word and prayer(asking whatever you will) as keys to abiding in Christ. These are some of the spiritual disciplines mentioned above. Words abiding in us not only speak of intake but of meditation and obedience of the word. Agreeing with this point of view, John Piper says, “The inwardly abiding word is a truth of Scripture believed, cherished, and rolled back and forth in the imagination until its implications spill over into daily life as love and joy and peace and righteousness.” By love, joy, and peace and righteousness, he is speaking of the fruits of the spirit mentioned in Galatians 5. Yet, he said this in the context of an exposition on John 15.
The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
In contrast to the fruits of the Holy Spirit which must be produced from seed form and take a long time, the gifts of the spirit occur spontaneously. For example, a person can believe God now and at the same time the Holy Spirit can baptize that person and they will start prophesying and speaking in tongues right away. All this can happen right from the moment of their new birth. But it doesn’t have to. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit can be given at the time of regeneration. But any gift can be given at any time later that God chooses to. God doesn’t promise to give a specific believer a specific gift. He distributes the gifts to all believers as he sees fit. He gets to decide. (Read 1 Corinthians 12:1-11). This doesn’t mean we can desire a gift like the gift of prophecy and pray for it. We can. In fact, we are encouraged to. However, the Holy Spirit gets to decide whether he gives you or not. Praying doesn’t mean you get it. When it comes to the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit promises to produce his fruits in anyone who desires them and plays their part of cooperating with the Spirit.
But just because the gifts appear spontaneously in the believer doesn’t mean they can be developed and grown. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are also like muscles. You can grow them.
It’s important to know that both gifts and fruits depend on an ongoing relationship with God through his holy spirit. In fact, the gifts of the Holy Spirit aren’t really gifts in the way we use the word gifts. They are manifestations of the Holy Spirit. They are ways the Holy Spirit chooses to consistently act within a person. For example, a person who has a gift of healing doesn’t have something tangible that can work apart from the Holy Spirit in them. Samson’s power was a gift of the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t in his hair. The Holy Spirit chose to act in him in a particular way when he obeyed his vows. As such, it’s better to view the gifts of the Holy Spirit more as ways He chooses to use someone or ways he chooses to manifest in someone. The Holy Spirit can still be in that person but chooses not to manifest to heal a particular person but then the next moment chooses to manifest and heal another person. The Holy Spirit has a mind of his own. He cannot be controlled by the person with the gift.
I love how Joyce Meyer approached this topic during one of her conferences. She said that the difference between gifts and fruits is that gifts are given and we only need to use them and grow them. Fruit, however, is not given, it is developed. We get fruit in seed form when we are born again. She says the only way we develop fruits of the spirit is by being put in a situation where we need to use them and then using them. She continues that it’s like a muscle that if unused becomes weak but with use grows in strength. Mrs. Meyer adds that when you pray for patience, you will get a trial. When one starts to pray for the fruits of the spirit to be manifested in her life, then she will get people who are hard to deal with and circumstances that draw on her temperament and patience. Myers argues that is the only path to the fruits of the spirit. People who don’t take the opportunity to go through trials and difficulties to develop the fruits of the spirit, Meyer says, spend their life “going up and down the same stupid mountains. Up and down, up and down, up and down…”
a message of wisdom, a message of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, different kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues.
| Attribute | Gift | Fruit |
| Reality | A gift isn’t really a gift but a manifestation of the Holy Spirit or a manner in which the Holy Spirit chooses to consistently operate with a person. The person is just serving as a channel for the Holy Spirit to work and not really controlling when and how the Spirit works to manifest the gift. | A fruit isn’t really a fruit but character that is developed. |
| Ontological state | Having | Being |
| Examples | Prophecy, miraculous powers, the gifts of healing, faith, distinguishing between spirits, different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, a message of wisdom, a message of knowledge, etc. See 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 |
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, etc. See Galatians 5. |
| Nature | From the examples above, gifts are abilities or capacities made available for the service of others. It is made available to serve others when the Holy Spirit chooses to manifest himself as such. A gift is equipping for service; to help others. | From the examples above, fruits are all character traits meant to make the person who has them to be more like Christ. Of course, when we become more like Christ, we serve people more. But fruits aren’t abilities. |
| Time | Spontaneously appear at new birth or any time the Holy Spirit chooses to give it. | Takes a long time to produce. |
| Quantity | We are not promised a specific gift. Every believer gets a gift but not every gift but we don’t decide what it is, the Holy Spirit does. | All the fruits of the Spirit are ours for the taking as long as we are willing to cooperate and have him work in us to cultivate them. We can have them all. |
| Development | Needs to be developed and grown as we use it. | Grows as we continue to cultivate it. |
| Conscious control | Mostly the Holy Spirit chooses when to make the ability available to serve others. | We have more control over how we live out these character traits. |
Reference
https://joycemeyer.org/everydayanswers/ea-teachings/understanding-the-fruit-of-the-spirit
