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Gifts of the Holy Spirit and Fruit of the Holy Spirit. What's God Looking For in Us?


Gifts of Holy Spirit and Fruit of Holy Spirit

The gifts of the Holy Spirit are listed in 1 Corinthians 12: 8-10. The fruit (notice it's singular and not plural, as in fruits) of the Holy Spirit is mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23.


In order to understand them better, let's see what the Bible refers to as the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit.


Here're the different gifts of the Holy Spirit:

  1. Gift of message of wisdom

  2. Gift of message of knowledge

  3. Gift of faith

  4. Gifts of healing - notice the word 'gifts' pertaining to this gift is in plural

  5. Gift of the power to do miracles

  6. Gift of the ability to prophesy

  7. Gift of the ability to differentiate spirits

  8. Gift of speaking in different languages (which the person speaking had not known before)

  9. Gift to the ability to discern what was said when someone else speaks in unknown language through the gift number 8


Now let's see the different components of the fruit of the Holy Spirit:

  1. Love

  2. Joy

  3. Peace

  4. Forbearance

  5. Kindness

  6. Goodness

  7. Faithfulness

  8. Gentleness

  9. Self-control

In John 15:2, Jesus talks about the fruit (in singular). This fruit refers to all the above 9 components collectively. In John 15:6, we read that whoever does not bear this fruit will be cut off, and thrown into fire.


Hence, it is clear that God is more pleased with people who bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and not with the people having the gifts of the Holy Spirit.


We, as humans have to take no action in order to receive a gift of the Holy Spirit, as providing them to a person is solely God's decision. But we need to be extremely careful in bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit.


If we notice keenly, we can see that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is all about inner cleansing (of a person's heart).


How can we do it? Well, we can't do it by ourselves, but only with the help of the Helper - the Holy Spirit. We must be obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit in order to bear fruit for God.


In John 15:2, we also see the comforting assurance of Jesus that God will prune the branches that bear fruit in order to make them more fruitful.

©2024 by Bible Literacy

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