Before we begin, we reviewed why it is reasonable to replace the term “gentleness” in the Union Version with “humility” when discussing the single fruit of the Holy Spirit. We then discussed the first manifestation, which is the manifestation of God’s love, noting that to achieve this manifestation, the manifestations of faith and self-control are naturally indispensable. We also cited a previous article, demonstrating that our logical deduction aligns with God’s. Second, we continued by discussing the manifestation of joy and peace, touching on God’s sense of humor and His use of a feedback strategy. Third, we addressed the next three manifestations—patience, kindness, and goodness—noting that God is a God who embodies all three, and that we too must do the same as we co-labor with Him. We also discussed why Jesus, when He became incarnate, said that only God is good. Finally, we discussed faithfulness, humility, and self-control. For humility, we describe characteristics of a humble person and noting that those who are conformed to the image of Jesus are those who bear the single fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Please note that this article is an expansion of the topicwise Bible study held on Sunday (7/19/26). Unless otherwise specified, verses refer to those in NASB95. If this article refers previous articles, they can all be found on our website, ‘https://a-christian-voice.com/’; click on ‘Understanding Spiritual Life’.
There is only one Jesus Christ, only one Holy Spirit, and only one God—the Triune God. Therefore, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is the fruit of the Triune God. It is said, “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”(Galatians 5:22-23) ln “1198 The Holy Spirit, spiritual people, and spiritual and worldly burdens – Gal(5)16-(6)18,” we previously pointed out under “1. Walking by the Spirit and having the nine “manifestations” of the single fruit it produces” that the word “gentleness” should not be present but should be replaced by “meekness,” just as Strong’s Concordance indicates, because Jesus Himself said, “…I am gentle (G5011, lowly, adjective) and humble (G4235=G4239, meek, adjective) in heart, …”(Matthew 11:29). A humble person will certainly be gentle, but a gentle person is not necessarily humble; therefore, the correct translation should be: “…the fruit (G2590, singular) of the Spirit is love (G26, God’s love), joy (G5479), peace (G1515), patience (G3115, long-suffering), kindness (G5544), goodness (G19), faithfulness (G4102), meekness (G4236), and self-control (G1466, temperance). …”(Galatians 5:22-23) Let us discuss this based on the corrected Scripture, which lists nine “manifestations” of the single fruit of the Spirit.
1. The manifestation of God’s love
The New Testament describes the true nature of love as follows:
“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; …” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) I used to think this meant love had no chance to fail, but that is incorrect. Let’s look at the rest passage to see: “…but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.”(1 Corinthians 13:8) It is speaking in terms of time, so love never ceases in the context of time. We talk about this, since some translations are confusing.
It is not easy to manifest God’s love, as the Scripture makes very clear: “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith (G4102) supply (G2023) moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control (G1466), and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness (G5320), and in your brotherly kindness, love (G26, God’s love).”(2 Peter 1:5-7) Some translations translate the word G2023 as add, which causes confusion since these verses don’t imply there is an order.
Although “…now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”(1 Corinthians 13:13), this must begin with faith—that is, Christians must believe that both the New Testament and the Old Testament are inspired by God, not just the Old Testament as Paul mentioned. When he said, “All Scripture is inspired by God …”(2 Timothy 3:16), the “Scripture” referred to in that passage meant the Old Testament, because at that time, books like the Book of Revelation had not yet been written! Without such a belief as the “personal variable axiom” to a logical input and relying solely on logical deduction, one would become an agnostic, that is, someone who does not know whether God actually exists, especially if one bases their decision on whether supernatural events occur.
For example, supernatural events also occur in Buddhism, and Satan can perform supernatural acts as well. The latter is clearly explained in Scripture: “While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.””(Job 1:16) If you read through the Book of Job, you will see that the man thought God was doing this, but in fact it was Satan. Similarly, in the Book of Revelation it says, “And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.”(Revelation 16:13-14) And that “…dragon was …the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, …”(Revelation 12:9) If we look only at whether supernatural events occur, how can we possibly know whether God exists? We must discern whether those supernatural events come from God.
Regarding the “personal variable axiom,” also called simply as the “personal axiom,” we previously discussed in “1196 Justification, New Testament as reality, logical deduction from God – Gal(3)10-29,” specifically in the section “2. The Old Testament is a shadow, while the New Testament is the reality of Christ’s coming, as promised,” we discussed this point and related topics in detail. We saw that logical deduction comes from God and that we are like Him. Please refer to that article.
2. Joy and Peace
The Scripture makes it very clear: “…the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace (G1515, noun) and joy (G5479, noun) in the Holy Spirit.”(Romans 14:17) The word used here is the same as the one used in “manifestation.” Let’s start with joy. The Book of Romans says, “rejoicing (G5463, verb) in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer.”(Romans 12:12) It also says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”(Romans 15:13) Only in the Holy Spirit can a person’s joy be an unending stream, enabling them to “Rejoice (G5463, verb) always.”(1 Thessalonians 5:16)—that is, “Rejoice (G5463, verb) in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!”(Philippians 4:4) Jesus Himself said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy.”(John 16:20)
The Lord Himself set a humorous example. For instance, after Paul saw the bright light, “…the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.”(Acts 9:10-12) He didn’t have to let Ananias see himself, but He did—isn’t that quite humorous? If God is willing to bring joy to someone, how could that person not be joyful?
Speaking of peace (G1515, noun), the Book of 2 Corinthians says, “Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace(G1514, verb); and the God of love and peace (G1515) will be with you.”(2 Corinthians 13:11) God is the God of peace. Therefore, “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable (G1516, adjective), gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace (G1515) by those who make peace.”
(James 3:17-18) “and might reconcile them both (the circumcised and the uncircumcised) in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near.”(Ephesians 2:16-17) This is what Peter said: “The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all).”(Acts 10:36) We are “being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”(Ephesians 4:3) The Spirit of unity has been given to us, but this does not mean we can rest on our laurels and expect unity to happen automatically. Rather, we must cooperate with God, just as the Scripture says, “…but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”(1 Corinthians 3:8-9)
Understand that God employs a strategy of feedback, just as this passage says: ““But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced, he will live. Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord GOD, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live? “But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die.”(Ezekiel 18:21-24) Therefore, we must work with God to cooperate with Him. You see, before the final judgment at the Great White Throne, we must have works of faith (see Revelation 20:11-12).
3. Patience, kindness, and goodness
First, we note that the patience (G3115, long-suffering) mentioned here is different from the patience referred to in this passage: “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured (G5278) to the end who will be saved.”(Matthew 10:22) This word “long-suffering” (G3115) appears only 14 times. God is a God of long-suffering, just as this passage states: “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience (G3115, long-suffering), not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”(Romans 2:4-5) It also says, “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured (G3115, long-suffering) with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?”(Romans 9:22)
Clearly, people also need patience (G3115). Paul says, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”(Ephesians 4:1-3) Therefore, “As an example, brethren, of suffering and patience (G3115) take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.”(James 5:10) Just as this Scripture expects, “And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience (G3115) inherit the promises.”(Hebrews 6:11-12)
Now let us consider the point of gentleness (G5544). Likewise, God is a God of gentleness (G5544), as this scripture shows: “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”(Romans 2:4) This word appears only eight times; sometimes it is translated with different terms, such as “All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good (G5544), There is not even one.”(Romans 3:12) This word sometimes appears in different tenses, such as in “Be kind (G5543, adjective) to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”(Ephesians 4:32) A classic example of this word is found in: “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness (G5544), humility, gentleness and patience.”(Colossians 3:12) We can also see that people are meant to work with God, as mentioned earlier, because God employs a strategy of feedback.
Finally, let us discuss “goodness” (G19). This word appears only four times, but in different tenses, as in this passage: “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good (G18, adjective) and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’”(Matthew 25:23) Another typical passage featuring this word is: “for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness (G19) and righteousness and truth).”(Ephesians 5:8-9) From this passage, we can see that we are to work with God and become children of light.
Let us look at another passage: “And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good (G18)? No one is good (G18) except God alone.”(Mark 10:18) I used to wonder: Isn’t the Lord Jesus Christ one of the three Persons of the Trinity? Then how could He say that only God is good (G18)? It turns out that this refers only to the period of His incarnation, when “…Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”(Philippians 2:5-8) Therefore, He was a complete human being who could be crucified; He had a physical body. But the Scripture says of ordinary flesh, “…I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.”(Romans 7:18) He is just like us: “…One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.”(Hebrews 4:15)
What sets Him apart from us is that, “…His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.”(Matthew 1:18) Therefore, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Consequently, He was able to choose, “…I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. …”(John 14:31) Obedience to God means not sinning, so He did not sin. Previously, in “1096 Yu Hongjie’s Discipleship of Newself – Unbiblical Places (1),” under “1. Definition of sin,” we discussed in detail how disobedience to God equals sin; please refer to that article. From the perspective that “what God tells us through the Bible is consistent,” it becomes very clear why He said, while incarnate, that only God is good—because at that time He was a complete human being and had never exercised His divinity.
4. Faith, meekness, and temperance
As we mentioned at the beginning, to attain the manifestation of God’s love, one must naturally possess faith (G4102) and temperance (G1466, self-control); otherwise, it is impossible to achieve. Let us first discuss faith (G4102), because the Christian life begins with faith—believing that both the Old and New Testaments are inspired by God. Only then can one fulfill the principle that “…the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; …”(Romans 1:17). Therefore, the word “faith” (G4102) appears 228 times, and typical scriptural examples can be found throughout the Bible. For example, “And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will get well.” But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith (G4102) has made you well.” At once the woman was made well.”(Matthew 9:20-22) We won’t dwell on this further.
Let’s first discuss temperance (G1466, self-control) and then meekness (humility). This word temperance appears only three times; aside from its mention among the nine manifestations of single fruit of the Holy Spirit, the other two instances are: “But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control (G1466) and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you.””(Acts 24:25) and “and in your knowledge, self-control (G1466), and in your self-control (G1466), perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness.”(2 Peter 1:6) So its meaning is very clear. But self-control is particularly difficult for me. When I was suffering from depression, even though I knew watching movies would plunge me deeper into depression, I still went to see them without self-control, until God took away my depression. Even now, I still cannot avoid overeating and lack self-control. Once again, I realize, “For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.”(Romans 7:19) I truly have not yet reached the point of freedom.
Finally, let’s briefly discuss humility (G4236, meekness). According to the Strong’s Concordance, this word meekness (G4236) appears only nine times. A typical scripture passage reads: “Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness (G4236) and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!”(2 Corinthians 10:1) It also says, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility (G4236) and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love (G26).”(Ephesians 4:1-2) Please note that the Chinese Union Version consistently substitutes “gentleness” for “humility.” We explained at the beginning why this is incorrect, so we will not discuss it further here.
A humble person acts as follows: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind (G5102, in lowliness of mind, noun) regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 2:3-5) Please note that different words are used here, but such a person truly understands that no one is superior to another in every respect—especially knowing that, “If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know.”(1 Corinthians 8:2). Naturally, they will see that others are superior to themselves in someway, and, whenever possible, will look out for the interests of others as well.
Jesus was a humble person; He Himself said, “…I am gentle (G5011, lowly, adjective) and humble (G4235=G4239, meek, adjective) in heart, …”(Matthew 11:29) Please note that the word “gentle” (G5011) used here is the adjective form of the word “humility of mind” (G5102) used earlier; they convey the same meaning. Since Jesus Himself spoke of both gentleness and humility of mind, we have discussed them together.
We must humble ourselves, but humility is not easy. Just as Job, only after enduring so much suffering, was able to answer “…the LORD and said, “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.””(Job 42:1-3) Recognizing his own inadequacy leads him to humble himself, enabling him to say, “Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”(Job 42:6)
Finally, we must emphasize that if we “do not discount the words of the Bible” and read the Bible correctly, we will know that “what God tells us through the Bible is consistent.” Because God is infinite and man is finite, I cannot fully understand the Bible of course; therefore, I can only say that, as far as I know, this is correct. And the only way to read the Bible correctly is to “allow the Holy Spirit to lead our Bible study.” We are to be conformed to the image of Jesus, just as this Scripture says: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”(Romans 8:29) A person who is conformed to the image of Jesus must bear the single fruit of the Holy Spirit, and if a person bears even the single fruit of the Holy Spirit, that person has already been conformed to the image of Jesus. Although the Bible does not explicitly state this, this concept can be deduced logically—just as the Bible has never used the term “Trinity,” yet the concept certainly exists.
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