Another important proof of one’s new birth are the fruit of the Spirit. Dr. MacArthur takes a careful exposition of the biblical expectation on the fruit-bearing Christian.
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The Bible often refers to God as our heavenly Father and Christians as a family. Another frequent biblical image is of Jesus as a vine and Christians as branches: we grow through the nurturing of Christ and bear spiritual fruit as the result of His Spirit’s infusing us. This vine-and-branches concept is an ideal metaphor for the Christian life. As a branch is nothing apart from the vine, so we can do nothing apart from Christ. A branch draws all of its strength from the vine, and we become strong by drawing from His strength.
In John 15, Christ is the Vine and the Father is the Vinedresser. The Father prunes the fruit-bearing branches to make them bear more fruit, removing and burning fruitless branches so that the fruitfulness of the vine is increased. The branches that abide in the Vine—those who are truly in Christ—are blessed; they grow and bear fruit, and the Father lovingly tends them.
Jesus told the disciples, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (verse 4). Whoever abides discovers that his soul is nourished with the truths of God as he stays in a close, living, energized relationship with Jesus Christ. The natural result is spiritual fruit.
Don’t ever think you can bear spiritual fruit alone. In nature, a branch can bear no fruit apart from its vine. Even the strongest branches, cut off from the vine, become more helpless than the weakest. Similarly, spiritual fruit bearing is not a matter of being strong or weak, good or bad, brave or cowardly, clever or foolish, experienced or inexperienced. Whatever your gifts, accomplishments, or virtues, they cannot produce fruit if you are detached from Jesus Christ. 
To bear genuine fruit, you must get as close to the true Vine, our Lord Jesus Christ, as you can. Strip away all the things of the world. Put aside the sins that distract you and sap your energy, and everything that robs you of a deep, personal, loving relationship with Jesus. Stay in God’s Word. Having done all that, don’t worry about bearing fruit. It is not your concern. Get close to Jesus Christ, and His energy in you will produce fruit.
Fruit is a frequent metaphor in Scripture. The main word for it is used approximately a hundred times in the Old Testament and seventy times in the New Testament. It is mentioned often, yet also often misunderstood. Fruit is not outward success. It’s a common misconception to think that if a ministry is big, it is fruitful. But a church or Bible study group isn’t successful just because it attracts a crowd. The whole church could be spiritually dead, while missionaries preaching to a handful of spiritually hungry listeners bear much fruit. Infectious enthusiasm or a winsome personality might produce a rollicking celebration full of happy people, but they have nothing to do with spiritual fruit. God produces real fruit in our lives when we abide in Him.
What kind of fruit brings glory to God? Philippians 1:11 says, “Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Righteousness is the fruit God desires in our lives. Yet it is God who produces the fruit of righteousness within us so that He may be glorified.
There are two basic kinds of fruit—two ways in which your life can make an impact on others.
ATTITUDE FRUIT
The apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 5:22–23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” Those were all traits of our Lord. And if those attitudes are characteristic of your life, the fruit of active good works will follow.
Love. The first character of spiritual fruit is love, which we looked at in detail in chapter 6. We are to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and love our neighbors as ourselves (see Luke 10:25–28). Loving God is the greatest commandment.
Joy. This is the deep-down sense of well-being that comes from knowing all is well between you and God. It is not a result of favorable circumstances, but is God’s gift to believers. Joy is a part of God’s own nature and Spirit that He manifests in His children. While it is a gift to us, we’re also commanded to “rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4), gratefully accepting and reveling in this supreme blessing we already possess.
Peace. If joy is exhilaration from being right with God, then peace is the tranquillity of mind that results from the saving relationship. Like joy, peace is not based on circumstances. Christians “know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). God is in control of your life, no matter what your circumstances may be from a human perspective. That is why Jesus could say without qualification to those who trusted in Him, “Let not your heart be troubled” (John 14:1). There is no reason for you to be afraid.
Longsuffering (or Patience). If you have patience, you are able to endure with tolerance and longsuffering the injuries inflicted by others, and you can accept irritating or painful situations with a calm willingness. God Himself is slow to anger (Psalm 86:15 NASB) and expects His children to be the same. It’s important that you emulate the Lord’s patience: “as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on…longsuffering” (Colossians 3:12), especially with believers, “bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).
Kindness. This is tender concern for others. It has nothing to do with weakness or lack of conviction but is the genuine desire to treat others gently, just as the Lord treats you. Paul reminded the Thessalonians that even though he was an apostle, he was “gentle among [them], just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children” (1 Thessalonians 2:7). He admonished Timothy not to “quarrel,” but to “be gentle to all” (2 Timothy 2:24).
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oodness. This refers to moral and spiritual excellence characterized by sweetness and active kindness. Paul said, “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10). To the Thessalonians he wrote, “We also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power” (2 Thessalonians 1:11).
Faithfulness. This pertains to loyalty and trustworthiness. Jeremiah declared that the Lord’s “compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22–23). We, too, ought to “be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2).
Gentleness. This is better translated meekness. The New Testament term for meekness is used to describe three attitudes: submissiveness to the will of God (Colossians 3:12), teachableness (James 1:21), and consideration of others (Ephesians 4:2). Although He was God, Jesus was “gentle and lowly in heart” on earth (Matthew 11:29). Like our Lord, we are to actively pursue meekness and gentleness (1 Timothy 6:11) and to wear them like a garment (Colossians 3:12).
Self-Control. A believer who exercises self-control restrains his passions and appetites. In His incarnation Christ was the epitome of self-control. He was never tempted or tricked into doing or saying anything that was not consistent with His Father’s will and His own divine nature. Like Jesus, we should “add to [our] faith…self-control” (2 Peter 1:5–6).
These Christlike characteristics come only from the Holy Spirit. He establishes and ripens them in us, not sequentially—first loving, then once we have become loving, joyful, and so on—but together as part of our lives as we abide in Christ.
ACTION FRUIT
The fruit of godly attitudes leads to the fruit of godly actions and offerings to God.
Thankful Praise. Hebrews 13:15 says, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” When you praise God and thank Him for who He is and what He has done, you offer Him fruit.
Help to Those in Need. Members of the Philippian church gave Paul a gift, and he told them he was glad for their sakes that they had: “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account” (Philippians 4:17). He appreciated it not for the sake of the gift, but for the fruit of lovingkindness in their lives that it represented. In Romans 15:28, Paul wrote “Therefore, when I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit, I shall go by way of you to Spain.” Again he referred to a gift as “fruit.” A gift to someone in need is fruit if it is offered from a loving heart, in the divine energy of the indwelling Christ.
Purity in Conduct. Paul wanted Christians to be holy in their behavior. He encouraged the Colossians to “walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10).
Converts. New believers in Christ are the fruits of prayer, witnessing, and living a godly example. Paul called the first
converts in Achaia the “the firstfruits of Achaia” in 1 Corinthians 16:15. (See also Daniel 12:3; John 4:36; Romans 6:22; 1 Corinthians 3:5–9.) Like other spiritual fruit, the key to a successful harvest here is how faithfully you abide in Christ yourself. You’ll never win converts by anxiously keeping up a flurry of “evangelistic activities.” Concentrate on your relationship with Jesus Christ and He will give you opportunities to share your faith. There is no need to become anxious because you haven’t won a certain number of people to Christ. As you become closer to Him and more like Him, you will discover that telling others the gospel is an outgrowth of abiding. You may not always see fruit immediately, but you will bear it nevertheless.
When Jesus was traveling to Samaria, He met a woman at a well. She told the people in her town about Jesus. As the people from the town came out to meet Him, He said to the disciples:
Do you not say, “There are still four months and then comes the harvest”? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together, For in this the saying is true: “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors. (John 4:35–38)
The disciples were reaping the results of the labor of other workers. Those people did not see all the results of their labor, but their efforts still bore fruit.
Modern missions pioneer William Carey spent thirty-five years in India before he saw one convert. Some people think he had a fruitless ministry. But almost every convert in India to this day is fruit on his branch, because he translated the New Testament into many different Indian dialects. Carey was not the one to directly reap what he had sown, but his life bore much fruit.
You often can’t gauge the impact your life has on others. But you can be sure that as you develop godly attitudes, godly actions will result, and that God’s kingdom will continue to be enriched by your spiritual fruit according to His perfect will.
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MacArthur, J. (2004). Welcome to the family : What to expect now that you’re a Christian (Page 77). Nashville, Tenn.: Nelson Books.