Our God has chosen to reveal Himself as Father, Son, & Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:26, Matthew 28:19-20). In much of the Old Testament, we see God as Father, even though it is pointing to Jesus as Messiah. In the Gospels, it is about Jesus’ life as the perfect God-man and His redemption for us. In Acts and most of the New Testament, it is about the work of the Spirit in the life of the believers.
We affirm the relevance of the Holy Spirit and His gifts and ministries for today. We have a great desire to see more of the supernatural gifts of the Spirit in our world. We see these things as manifestations of His power working among mankind. But something that is often overlooked is that the fruit of the Spirit is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit as well.
When an individual makes Jesus his Lord, He is born of the Spirit (John 3:6). The Spirit of God comes into his spirit to live (Romans 8:9). From there He works to guide, transform, and empower his life (Galatians 4:19, Romans 12:1-2).
We often think of the fruit of the Spirit as being developed by human effort as opposed to being a supernatural work of the Spirit of God (Galatians 5:22-23). Just as the spiritual gifts are the Spirit of God working in and through a yielded vessel, so are the fruit of the Spirit. They are the outworking of His work within. While the gifts of the Spirit often do their work in a moment of time, the fruit of the Spirit should be more long-lasting developed over a lifetime. The gifts of the Spirit reveal the power of God while the fruit of the Spirit reveals the character of God. We need them both working in and through the Body of Christ – the Church. Each has an important place and they should never be thought of as opposing one another. We should not choose one over the other. It is not fruit OR gifts but both.
Those who emphasize the gifts without the fruit reveal only a partial revelation of God. Those who emphasize fruit without the gifts do the same. Obedient, yielded vessels can do both simultaneously.