The Fruit of the Spirit

The Fruit of the Holy Spirit [Excerpted from Fruit of the Holy Spirit, Wikipedia]

The Fruit of the Holy Spirit is a biblical term that sums up nine attributes of a person or community living in accord with the Holy Spirit, according to chapter 5 of the Epistle to the Galatians: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The fruit is contrasted with the works of the flesh which immediately precede it in this chapter.”

Early commentary [Excerpted from Fruit of the Holy Spirit, Wikipedia]

Thomas Aquinas pointed out that numbered among the fruits of the Holy Spirit are certain virtues, such as charity, meekness, faith, chastity, and kindness. Though discussed as nine attributes of the Fruit of the Spirit, the original Greek term translated as “fruit” is singular. Aquinas explained, “Consequently fruit is mentioned there in the singular, on account of its being generically one, though divided into many species which are spoken of as so many fruits.”

–Thomas Aquinas [Summa Theologica, Second and Revised Edition, Fathers of the English Dominican Province, 1920].

“Augustine defined virtue as ‘a good habit consonant with our nature.’ Augustine’s commentary on Galatians 5:25-26 says, ‘the Apostle had no intention of teaching us how many [either works of the flesh, or fruits of the Spirit] there are; but to show how the former should be avoided, and the latter sought after.'”

— Saint Augustine [Waldron, Martin Augustine. “Virtue.” The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 5 May 2015].