Philippians
4:17 “Not that I seek the
gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.”
I
was looking for a good biblical word study on the word :fruit” today. I’ve
heard of good fruit, spiritual fruit, first fruits, bearing fruit, yielding fruit,
being fruitful, fruit of our labor, fruit of the womb and the fruit of
righteousness, so what is this fruit? One commentary states that in the Bible
verse above, the apostle Paul here was commending the Christians at Philippi as
the only church that had sent an offering to help defray his expenses on his
missionary trips. He calls such gifts “fruit” (in all goodness, and
righteousness, and truth) that would abound to their “account”. Thus God
considers gifts of money to scriptural ministries to be like life-giving fruits
on a healthy vine. There are other types of fruits which a Christian life can
produce. Paul regarded those he had helped lead to Christ as fruits.
Romans
1:13 “Now I do not want
you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was
hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among
the other Gentiles”.
Genuine
traits of godly character are also called fruits. “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and
truth” – Ephesians 5:9. The
classic passage, outlining the nine-fold fruit produced by the Holy Spirit in
the life of a willing Christian, is Galatians
5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control.” It is significant that all these attributes constitute one
fruit, not nine fruits.
I learned that the
tremendous importance of fruit-bearing in the Christian life was especially
brought out by Christ in His famous discourse on the vine and the branches in
John 15:1-16. In these verses, the word “fruit” occurs eight times. First,
there is the warning: “Every branch in Me
that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that
bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” – John 15:2. If there is no fruit (or if the fruit is “corrupt
fruit”) in the life, there is no assurance of any life at all.
John
15:8 “By this My
Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”
To
bring forth much fruit, we must abide (that is, “to be, or exist, to continue;
to dwell, rest, stand firm, or be stationary for anytime indefinitely; continue
steadfastly”) in Christ – John 15:5.
In Christ, Brian
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