The Holy Spirit and Fruit of the Spirit*

The last preparation which Jesus Christ made before His ascension was to instruct His apostles about the coming of what we call Pentecost, the day on which the Church was founded. With the establishment of the Church, the promise of the Father was given. Acts 1 states these events.

Acts 1:4, 5 and 8:
And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.

For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

The Church was given great ability with the coming of the inherent power of the holy spirit. Before studying the Word of God to see what is meant by the holy spirit, let us first clarify the difference between the Giver, Holy Spirit, and the gift, holy spirit.

At this point a law is involved. God cannot give mashed potatoes and gravy or books or houses. God can only give that which He is. Since God is Holy Spirit, He must give this as His gift. On Pentecost He gave holy spirit. The same words are used in the critical Greek text and in the Aramaic; and these texts have not differentiated between the Giver and His gift. That is where the confusion has come in. God is Holy Spirit with a capital H and a capital S; His gift which was given on the day of Pentecost was pneuma hagion which is holy spirit and should always be translated with a lower case h and a lower case s. God gave what He is-Holy and Spirit; His gift is the power from on high, holy spirit.

Since this gift is spirit, it cannot be seen, heard, smelled, tasted and touched. How then can I know by my senses what I received when God put His spirit in me and made me a being of body, soul and spirit? From God's Word. God's Word tells me what I have received and then I deliberately put it in my mind and begin to act on the knowledge of His Word. As I act, I see the manifestations of the spirit in the senses world.

The Holy Spirit gives one gift to a receiving believer, but this one gift has nine parts or manifestations. There are no more and no less than nine manifestations of the spirit. These are set forth in I Corinthians 12.

I Corinthians 12:7-10
But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers [different] kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:

The gift from the Holy Spirit was given on Pentecost and is readily available in our times as it was to the apostles for we all belong to the Church of God. The gift comes with an individual's acceptance of Christ as his Lord according to Romans 10:9. The book of Acts and the Pauline Epistles are constantly making reference to the power of the holy spirit or else demonstrating the power which those men of God knew they had. The reason we see so little (if any at all) manifesting of the spirit today is that we have never been taught. We have the gift, holy spirit, but the manifestations must be operated by us; and this most believers know nothing about.

The manifestations are divided by their usage into three groups: (1) inspirational manifestations; (2) power impartation manifestations; (3) informative manifestations. The characteristics of the manifestations suggest the names. The following will be a brief definition of what the nine manifestations do for those who operate them.

1. Utterance, Speaking, Worship, Inspirational Manifestations
   1. Speaking in tongues-bringing forth a message from God in a language unknown to the speaker which will edify the spirit. Speaking in tongues is to be used in private prayer life unless the message is interpreted in a believers' meeting
   2. Interpretation of tongues-interpreting the speaking in tongues in a believers' meeting. It edifies, exhorts and comforts the body present as God gives the utterance to the speaker and the speaker brings it forth.
   3.  Prophecy-bringing forth in a believers' meeting a message from God in the language of the people present, a message that will edify, exhort and comfort them.
2. Revelation, Information, Instructional, Knowing Manifestations
   1. Word of knowledge-receiving information from God concerning any given situation about which the believer by his five senses cannot know.
   2. Word of wisdom-receiving instruction by the believer on what to do with the information which he has received through word of knowledge.
   3. Discerning of spirits-receiving information by a believer concerning the presence, non-presence, and identity of spirits; if the spirits be evil, they can then be cast out in the name of Jesus Christ.
3.  Action, Power, Impartation Manifestations
   1. Faith (believing)-manifesting the faith of Jesus Christ which makes it possible for a believer to bring to pass the impossible at the believer's command according to the revelation of word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and/or discerning of spirits.
   2. Miracles-bringing about in the name of Jesus Christ phenomena which exceed the natural law.
   3. Healing-ministering healing in the name of Jesus Christ to restore, to cure, to make sound or whole, or to physically reconcile. This manifestation is not prayer for the sick.

It is urgent, if we are going to have the power which Jesus Christ made available, that we study God's Word and begin evidencing the nine manifestation of the holy spirit.

The gift, holy spirit, is not the fruit of the spirit spoken of in Galatians 5, just as fruit is not a manifestation or a gift. Fruit is the result of the manifestation of the spirit. First a person has to receive spirit and then he has to manifest the power of the spirit in the senses world that finally the fruit will be produced.

Galatians 5:22, 23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

If we have been born again and are manifesting the gift of the holy spirit, we are producing love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. Our evidencing the fruit of the spirit indicates the quality of our Christian walk.

With the knowledge of our sonship rights and having the renewed mind combined with the operation of the manifestations of the holy spirit producing fruit of the spirit, we are certainly more than victorious.** We certainly can be powerhouses! We need not wait any longer for we have the power to manifest the more abundant life now.

_______________________________

*  Wierwille, Victor Paul, Power for Abundant Living, chapter 25. American Christian Press, New Knoxville, Ohio. 1979.

** Wierwille, Victor Paul, Receiving the Holy Spirit Today. American Christian Press, New Knoxville, Ohio. 1977.

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